So what should a parent do?

Just three days ago Leah Betts brought her18th birthday party to an horrific end when she collapsed on the bathroom floor of the family home. Before she lapsed into a coma she snatched just enough time to tell her former police sergeant father, Paul, the name of the person who supplied her with a single ecstasy pill. Yesterday, Mr Betts and his wife, Janet, who is a drugs counsellor, were struggling to come to terms with the fate that had befallen their daughter.

Who could fail to sympathise with their outrage? As the family agonises in private, the public row continues to rage. All agree that the case of Leah Betts is tragic, but as to what it tells society - and particularly other parents - there is precious little consensus.

In the face of such tragedy, Tory MP Nigel Evans recites the old adage: the police must target the pushers, and the kids should just say no. It is a familiar refrain which rings increasingly hollow.

The reality, according to drugs counsellors, is that ecstasy, once a prescribed drug in the US and since the late 1980s synonymous with the rave scene, is now so much part of mainstream youth culture that young people hardly think of it as an illegal drug. Leah Betts did not pick up E at some marginalised rave party or in a seedy back lane.

In the face of such overwhelming use, "Just say no" is about as pointless as spitting in the wind, according to Mike Linnell, of the Manchester- based drug information charity, Lifeline. The charity takes a pragmatic, "agnostic" position on the moral rights and wrongs of recreational drug use. "Research shows that 50 per cent of young people have experimented with drugs before leaving school," says Mr Linnell. "Drug-taking is about having fun." He believes that politicians recognise this, but the practical business of politics prevents them from saying so publicly.

"This must be the first case not associated with the rave scene. Ecstasy is now so mainstream she could confidently take it and go to her 18th birthday party with her Mum and Dad there," says Dom Phillips, editor of the dance and club magazine Mixmag.

"The problem is we have had a massive sea change in the leisure pursuits of young adults over the past five years, away from alcohol and pubs and listening to bands to clubs and rave music and ecstasy," he says. "There is nothing alternative about it. People who take E work for the DSS and banks or are surveyors. We now have a massive uncontrolled drug experiment going on and that's terrifying. The Government has to do some real research into ecstasy and what it does in the short and long term to people." Such research is unlikely as long as the laws on drugs are strictly enforced.

Those who have died after taking Ecstasy usually suffer organ failure through dehydration. E raises the body temperature and the health risk is accentuated by lack of fluids and hours of dancing in poorly ventilated rooms. Research is needed if the dispute over whether a range of adulterants or Ecstasy (methylenedioxymethylamphetamine (MDMA)) itself is to blame for an estimated 50 deaths in Britain over the past five years.

Both Lifeline and Release, another drug education and information charity, would like to see testing of Ecstasy tablets introduced in Britain as happens in Holland. This would allow warnings to be issued and give politicians, doctors and drug counsellors some idea about what they are dealing with. It would also provide some data for a study into the long- term effects of the drug. Depression or permanent brain damage are already suspected side-effects.

At the moment, says Mr Linnell, tablet-testing carried out by charities "skates on a legal grey area". Samples have been sent to Holland for analysis, where many of the drugs originate, and which is geared up for testing. Understandably the Dutch authorities are not happy to pick up the tab.

Liz, a 24-year-old user, believes that the current public debate misses the point completely and that politicians are hiding their heads in the sand. The fact is, she says, that there is tremendous demand for the little pill that loosens the inhibitions, heightens the senses, makes you love everyone you meet and lets you dance all night. Despite Leah's death, she says, the "apples", "snowballs" and "love-doves" will continue to be seen as pleasure without a price.

According to Dom Phillips, what is always ignored is the pleasure of drug taking and the fact that despite this case, most youngsters, quite reasonably, consider the risks of dying to be small. Nicholas Saunders, a New Age entrepreneur, who outraged the establishment by extolling the benefits of Ecstasy, insists that in pure form it is harmless and claims it has cured his depression. He points out that even the deaths represent a small risk when you consider that more than 500,000 tablets a week are consumed. "You will get kids who will say right, that's it because of this case, but the attitude won't last."

Greg Poulter, of Release, agrees that the pleasure is played down and that youngsters are right if they suspect hypocrisy in the attitudes of adults. "The whole force of the Criminal Justice System is brought down upon young people. As a way of dealing with the problem it leaves me speechless. The judge who passes sentence on the cannabis user retires to a whiskey and cigar."

Moral outrage can be counter-productive, attracting as many young people as it deters. Mr Linnell warns parents to get the Leah Betts case into perspective. It is tragic, but the risks are relatively low. Mr Poulter also warns parents not to panic. They should, he says, make sure they are well informed and have good relations with their children.

But all the education and communication in the world might still not make a difference. Leah Betts's parents both advised youngsters of the dangers of drugs. Their daughter must have been saturated with information.

"Nothing can guarantee this kind of tragedy won't happen," says Mr Poulter "You can't put a brick wall around your children. It is the inevitable consequence in a drug-using society."

MARY BRAID