It seems that there were no illegal drugs in her system
tinyurl.com/3rkgrdp
which would appear to rule out what was perhaps the most common assumption of a heroin overdose
Booze was present, and I don't see any mention of prescription drugs.
|
... I don't see any mention of prescription drugs...
The news report is based on a statement from the family.
They are saying 'no illegal drugs present', which I don't doubt is true, but they are silent on other drugs.
That's their right, they are not obliged to release anything.
Fuller details of the toxicology report, from the Home Office pathologist, will be given at the inquest.
Last edited by: Iffy on Tue 23 Aug 11 at 15:39
|
|
Alcohol is, of course, not illegal, but is perfectly capable of killing one if consumed in vast quantities over a short period of time.
|
|
Antidepressants, methadone, tranquilisers, etc - all not necessarily illegal - from the stance her father took I'd imagine he'd be fairly open if 'illicit' substances were involved.
|
|
The fact that the results say 'no illegal drugs' says to me 'legal drugs'. Maybe that wasn't the cause of death but if there were NO drugs you'd have said that and not added illegal.
|
It's entirely possible that she was taking prescription drugs such as antidepressants/painkillers/antiepileptics etc.
Maybe the family don't want to entirely disseminate her legitimate medical history with the gawkers and tabloids, but simply give the message that (as usual) all the tabloid guff about the days leading to her death was just that: guff.
|
>> and tabloids, but simply give the message that (as usual) all the tabloid guff about
>> the days leading to her death was just that: guff.
She didnt die of Guff. Something killed her.
|
>> She didnt die of Guff. Something killed her.
>>
She was known in the past to take drugs, over a fairly long period, often heavily.
That will weaken the organs of any body.
It may be, that her weakened body, even having been 'clean' for a period of time, just gave up.
If so, that would be very tragic. Someone having cleansed themselves of poison, to lose the war after the last battle...
|
I would (sadly) say she is likely to have had prescriptions drugs and probably a lot of alcohol in her system. And these caused her death. I speculate on this. I still find it all sad and a waste of life.
Maybe she mixed some up by mistake? Heather Ledger made this lethal mistake too.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 23 Aug 11 at 21:38
|
>> I would (sadly) say she is likely to have had a lot of alcohol in her system.
Your speculation was correct.
A verdict of misadventure was recorded into the 27-year-old's death after an inquest heard she was more than five times the drink-drive limit.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-15453517
|
|
Not eating properly look at her skinny body.Sad really fame and money isn't the be all of everything.
|
I dealt with a chap early on in my career, his blood alcohol was 360 - Amy's was 416 - the one I saw in Court was very much alive and had been locked up for a drink driving offence.
The BBC report made no reference to the drugs legal or otherwise just drink.
|
>> I dealt with a chap early on in my career, his blood alcohol was 360
>> - Amy's was 416 - the one I saw in Court was very much alive
I doubt your "alive" chap was skinny as a rake.
|
>> I doubt your "alive" chap was skinny as a rake.
Plus, women have smaller livers than men, and the poor girl had been punishing hers. But body mass is probably more important.
|
|
He was as it happens - funny thing memory - I remember his face quite clearly - he had a very small frame (ex-jockey apparently) - yellow features. Long dead now no doubt.
|
Five times the limit is a good scoop of drink, but I've been to inquests where more has been taken.
One guy, believe it or not, was found to be 12 times over.
His life was devoted to drink, so he was probably five times the limit when he woke up each morning.
|
500-600mg/dl alcohol in blood is fatal for most people, through suppression of your drive to keep breathing while unconcious.
For some it will be lower, for others higher.
Pretty sure there have been cases of very tolerant chronic alcoholics being admitted to hospital with problems and found to have levels of 1000+ mg/dl as coincidental findings.
I think there was some mention of Ms Winehouse having been given some medication to help cope with the withdrawal effects of stopping drinking - these are usually drugs like valium or librium, which if combined with drink will make the alcohol comparatively more potent.
|
I don't know how people can drink that much, according to my breathalyser I am typically 1.5x to 2x over the limit when I get home on a Saturday night, and I would typically drink 7-8 pints (so around 16-17 units) but I start drinking around 7:00pm till around 2:00am so most of it will go out of my system by 2:00am.
Only touch the stuff at weekends too, tee total during the week. I am all too are of how evil alcohol can be.
|
from wiki:
"In 1995, a man in Wrocław, Poland had a car accident. At the hospital, his BAC was determined to be 1.48% (=1480mg/dl). He died a few days later from wounds from the car accident. Police were baffled as to how an individual could attain such a high blood alcohol. Later, police discussions with his brother in-law revealed that he had 'beer bonged' pure grain alcohol allegedly stolen from his place of work, a chemical plant"
...and other heroic tales.
|
|
Rule of thumb is that the body metabolises one unit per hour so if you take 16 units in 7 hours you will still have 9 in your system when you finish. (Roughly)
|
|
yeah, but what is one unit!
|
>> Your speculation was correct.
It was an easy guess though. I got the prescription drugs bit wrong. Although she was no doubt taking something to help her get of hard drugs.
But there had to be an obvious cause of death for them to release the body for cremation.
Still a very sad, waste of anyone's life.
|
|
You read it and posted tho.
|
|
It is interesting even to me, a person who has very limited interest in the cult of the celebrity and in Winehouse herself. I'd talk about in a pub maybe so why not here ?! :-)
|
>> Why is this interesting?
Because it is. And not because of who she was. I bet there are some people who could drink a bottle of vodka and still appear coherent and maybe even drive relatively safely the next morning. Smell like a distillery mind ;-)
Whether it's just coincidence but I've not listened to her album much since she started getting notorious for drink/drugs. I still quite like it (I think). Maybe play it in the car tomorrow.... I've got most of my music on the sdcard in there.
|
|
I still find it difficult to deal with substance abuse and the personal feelings I have towards public figures who do it. Be some moronic footballer or a gifted artist - just something wrong about it. Long since stopped having vertigo about people who do a bit of blow and the suchlike. I don't know whether it's to do with up-bringing, my mother was very anti-drink, my father less so. As siblings we all drink (but not to abusing it) - it may be due to a career where I had a bellyful of drunks and druggies (as we called them).
|
>> yeah, but what is one unit!
And here is the answer
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_of_alcohol
Summary. A unit of alcohol is a meaningless measurement.
|
|
Not sure of your logic there wise one. Surely any unit of measurement be it a metre or a kilogram or an amp is intrinsically meaningless. Why is a unit of alcohol any different?
|
|
Seems that an "unit" varies from country to country - not a good start for a standard unit to measure a er...unit.
|
Seems that an "unit" varies from country to country -
like a gallon?
|
>> meaningless measurement.
Meaningless, and mean. Far too small to do any harm on its own. You gotta drink quadruples to have any fun.
|
Provided it's measured accurately (or at all) with a standard english quantity the unit is a reasonable yardstick for spirits. Pretty meaningless, indeed dangerously misleading for beer and wine. Only quaffing bitter gets in at two units per pint and practically no combination of wine and pub measure I can think of is less than 1.5/1.75.
Actually I'd not twigged the one unit per litre per %abv formula spelled out in the wiki page. Puts the 250 ml glass of 14% Shiraz into a proper driving perspective.
|
The trouble is a 250ml glass isn't a glass. There should be 6 'glasses' to a 75cl bottle.
I always have in mind that a 12% 75cl bottle = 9 units, or 1.5 units per glass, session beer (3.5% ish) is 2 units per pint, strong beer (up to 5%) 3.
A shot (25ml/30 to the bottle)of 40% spirits is a unit. We use a jigger at home if the malt comes out, so nobody needs to guess what they've drunk.
It doesn't take much mental effort for the numerate ;-)
|
me if the malt comes out, so nobody needs to guess what they've drunk.
>>
>> It doesn't take much mental effort for the numerate ;-)
After two or more units? of course it does.
|
Doesn't that spoil the fun somewhat?
If I want to drink, I like to do so without worrying how many units I've had.
And if I don't want to, I don't.
|
>> Doesn't that spoil the fun somewhat?
>>
Funnily enough, no - not for me anyway. If anything it makes me think about what I am drinking and enjoy it more.
Guzzling is OK now and again when not driving and there's some proper supping beer (not too strong) at hand, but not as a rule.
I hate being drunk, or being out of sorts the following day from over indulgence.
It's the same with food. The best way to really enjoy food and avoid overeating is to savour the food and concentrate on the pleasure, rather than shovelling it down.
There's even a parallel with driving for me. I like to knock on, but I enjoy driving in proportion to how much I concentrate, not in proportion to the speed I'm going.
I could develop a philosophy here if I'm not careful.
|
Good point. I find though, unless I wish to get a little tipsy, I'd rather not drink at all, because there are loads of non-alcoholic drinks which taste better to me than alcoholic ones.
I am speaking as one whose partner and best friend died from alcohol, not quite the same as amy winehouse but similar. Of all the subjects on this site, this is one i unfortunately know a lot about.
|
Think the standard wine unit is actually a 125ml glass and weak as pee 8 or 9% wine too.
Binge drinking is more harmful than spreading intake over the week with a few nights off so Rats beware!
Think there is a website somewhere called howpi**edareyou.com containing calculators which take into account body weight, exact beverage drunk and how long ago.
Think beer is calculated from 3% gnat's water too.
|
Those are the sort of ABV percentages I had in mind TB. I thought the wine measure is smaller than 125 but actually that's pretty consistent with 1 unit per litre per 1%ABV and a well sub 10% wine.
It's certainly smaller than anything you're routinely offered in pub.
|
>>
>> Binge drinking is more harmful than spreading intake over the week with a few nights
>> off so Rats beware!
On Scottish News earlier this week a Doctor said men should drink no more than 21 units / week, no binging by drinking it all on a Saturday night and have 3 x Alcohol Free Days in a row per week.
Punters were interviewed by the same reporter. He was singularly unsuccessful in getting anyone to agree - funny that!
|
I'd always assumed that a couple of pints would be the limit for driving.
Five times the limit equals ten pints, which in this case equals death.
I should've kicked the bucket when I was a lad!
|
|
Thats so funny! Cruel but oh so funny!
|
My word. Such entertainment.
How about a hairstyle one might view with a tinge of regret in later years:
www.thepoke.co.uk/2011/11/15/the-greatest-album-covers-ever/?pid=845
Unfortunately it's not on spotify, but lots of the others on the site are, I discover.
|
>> Cruel but oh so funny!
Yes, funny, but it would upset me if I were a member of her family. The shop owner may decide not to live with it in the long run.
Reminds me of the Chocolate Enoch a late friend dreamed up after Enoch Powell made his mistaken bid for the xenophobe vote (from which his political career never recovered although he was very able). My buddy, an architect by training and something of a nutter himself, had a very good small deathmask-style sculpture of Powell's face made out of hard resin and made a soft rubber mould from that. The plan was to have a bit of walnut inside the Enoch, with a cutaway drawing for the advertisement showing the 'brain' with a pointer to it and the word 'nut'.
Somehow though no one wanted to market the Chocolate Enoch. Even Private Eye didn't really like the look of it. My analyst said sternly that a small brown object like that resembled a turd, and so the plan was really to make everyone eat excrement.
I may still have the rubber mould somewhere.
|
>> no one wanted to market the Chocolate Enoch. Even Private Eye didn't
I have just remembered that when the chocolate Enoch was explained to my wife's very ancient grandmother, she looked displeased and said: 'I wouldn't bang nails into Hindenburg either.'
During the first world war, in which her husband was killed on the Somme, wooden images of the German field marshal had apparently been sold so that people could bang nails into them. She regarded that, quite rightly, as distasteful or worse.
|
|
Could turn into a franchise with a coffeeshop in A'dam.
|
Amy Winehouse - toxicology results - Iffy
