Anna Wood was a schoolgirl from Sydney, Australia, who died at the age of 15 on October 24, 1995 at Royal North Shore Hospital, St. Leonards, N.S.W., after taking an ecstasy tablet at a dance party the previous night. The direct cause of death was a cerebral edema, caused by water intoxication and resultant hyponatremia. Her death, widely reported in the media, sparked off a moral panic regarding drugs and their perceived role in rave and dance party culture. The event had political implications on drug policy, particularly in her home state of New South Wales. Media coverage frequently played on her appearance as an average, middle-class, fresh-faced "good" girl to convey the message that similar tragedies could befall any youngster in Middle Australia. Her death is also notable in that it preceded by mere weeks that of the British teenager Leah Betts, the circumstances and resultant media coverage of which were strikingly similar. The Sydney Opera House on Sydney Harbour Sydney (pronounced ) is the most populous city in Australia with a metropolitan area population of over 4. ... October 24 is the 297th day of the year (298th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 68 days remaining. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine), most commonly known by the street names ecstasy or XTC (for more names see the full list), is a synthetic entactogen of the phenethylamine family, whose primary effect is believed to be the stimulation of secretion as well as inhibition of re-uptake of large amounts... Cerebral edema is swelling of the brain which can occur as the result of a head injury, cardiac arrest or from the lack of proper altitude acclimatization. ... Water intoxication (also known as hyperhydration or water poisoning) is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain function that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside of safe limits by a very rapid intake of water. ... The electrolyte disturbance hyponatremia or hyponatraemia exists in humans when the sodium level in the plasma falls below 135 mmol/l. ... A moral panic is a reaction by a group of people based on the false or exaggerated perception that some cultural behavior or group, frequently a minority group or a subculture, is dangerously deviant and poses a menace to society. ... A rave (sometimes referred to as a rave party) is an all-night dance event where DJs and other performers play electronic dance music and rave music. ... A psychoactive drug or psychotropic substance is a chemical substance that acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it alters brain function, resulting in temporary changes in perception, mood, consciousness and behavior. ... Look up policy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Capital Sydney Government Const. ... A photograph of Leah Betts in a coma, used in an anti-drug campaign. ...

Wood's death was the subject of Anna's Story, a drug-education book published in 1996. 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

See also

• Rachel Whitear
• Leah Betts
• Moral panic
• Mass hysteria
• Responsible drug use
• Illicit drugs
• War on drugs
• Raves

A school photograph of Rachel. ... A photograph of Leah Betts in a coma, used in an anti-drug campaign. ... A moral panic is a reaction by a group of people based on the false or exaggerated perception that some cultural behavior or group, frequently a minority group or a subculture, is dangerously deviant and poses a menace to society. ... In psychology collective hysteria is the name given to a phenomenon of the manifestation of the same hysterical symptoms by more than one person. ... The concept of responsible drug use is that a person can use drugs with reduced or eliminated risk of negatively effecting other parts of ones life or other peoples lives. ... Massive mark-ups for drugs, UK Govt report Prevalance of drug use 1991-2002 The War on Drugs is an initiative undertaken by the United States with the assistance of participating countries, which is intended to curb supply and diminish demand for certain psychoactive substances. ... Raves can refer to: Rave party Raves, a commune in the Vosges département, in France This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

References

• A coroner's report on Anna Wood's death
• http://www.cia.com.au/peril/youth/homan1.pdf
• Anna's Story, the book about the incident