Heartbroken mother whose son, 23, died after taking MDMA on holiday calls for drug to be made legal

A grieving mother whose 23-year-old son died on holiday after taking drugs has issued a plea for ecstasy to be made legal.

Keen sportsman and DJ Ben Rees, from Aberdare in South Wales, told his girlfriend ‘this has been the best year’ just weeks before he died after taking party drug MDMA during a trip to Germany with friends. 

Ben took the powdered drug that contained a lethal substitute called PMA – that gives similar effects but is cheaper and more poisonous. 

Now his heartbroken mother Nadia Rees, 59, is calling for ecstasy to be made legal so it is easier to regulate what is inside the substances. 

Ben is pictured here second from the left with his parents Huw and Nadia and older brother Alex

Nadia said: ‘Ben’s death has to try and change something so that he didn’t die in vain.

‘The harm that’s been caused in Wales over the past year by illegal or illicit drug use, as they call it, is higher than it’s ever been so the law isn’t protecting the people who are using these substances.

‘You and I might go to the pub, we will have a couple of drinks but we know the content of the alcohol that we are drinking. It’s like a game of roulette really, isn’t it.’

Nadia says her son was a sportsman and a musician who was very sociable.

A few weeks before he died he told his girlfriend: ‘This has been the best year’.

Nadia says her son was a sportsman and a musician who was very sociable

A few weeks before he died he told his girlfriend: ‘This has been the best year’

DJ Ben died while on holiday in Germany with a group of friends – he had taken MDMA 

Nadia is now working with organisation Anyone’s Child – a network of families affected by drugs who are calling for drug laws to be changed.

She added: ‘I think Ben would be proud of me.’

Former undercover police officer Neil Woods believes drugs should be regulated like alcohol and tobacco.

He said all the UK deaths from MDMA he’s aware of have been because the dosage is too high in the tablet or it contained a more dangerous substance.

He said: ‘It’s because they’re dangerous that we need to regulate them’.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show 4,859 deaths in Wales and England last year were related to drug poisoning – including legal drugs.

The Home Office said tackling drug misuse is a priority.

The UK Government has no plans to decriminalise harmful drugs but aims to prevent drug use in communities, support people through treatment and tackle the supply of illegal drugs.