Following a sharp increase in cases in Scotland since 2019, the parents of a tragic victim of ecstasy poisoning in Scotland who passed away after receiving the equivalent of five ecstasy pills have spoken out.
Following the incident in 2017, Greg Mackie was discovered dead at Edinburgh College at the age of just 18. A janitor on campus found him in the restroom. The film and media student had the equivalent of five ecstasy tablets in his system, but no alcohol at all, according to a toxicology report. His family was devastated by the tragedy, but Biggar parents Colin and Mandy Mackie overcame their sorrow to start a campaign against drink-spiking, which they currently run as Spike Aware UK.
Scotland’s police have received reports of 168 spiking cases since 2023. Only nine of those cases, though, have been forwarded to the Crown Office; the remaining ones were judged to be devoid of sufficient evidence. In an interview with Scotland Tonight on Thursday night, the bereaved parents talk about their son’s passing. Mandy stated that she thought her son had been “murdered.” “No one’s ever been identified for it,” she continued. It was always pushed under the rug as an overdose on drugs. Although my son’s death certificate lists a drug overdose, in my opinion, my son was murdered.
Mandy describes how she learned of Greg’s passing as “just a knock on the door at six o’clock in the morning.” We were told by two police officers who entered the room that our son had overdosed on drugs and died. And we responded, “No way.” “I’ll never know what Greg would be doing now—he would have turned 25 yesterday,” Colin Mackie continues. Would he now be wed? Would he remain unmarried? I just don’t know – and that’s the one thing I’ll always wonder as each year comes. Now, what would he be up to? In what location would he be? We will never be aware.
Spiking is not a distinct criminal offense in Scotland. Instead, cases are looked into under the Sexual Offences Act or as drugging, which is the act of giving drugs to someone without their knowledge. In Greg’s instance, no further action was done by the police because they were unable to identify the culprit.
The Mackies believed that the possibility that Greg had been spiked was not given enough weight by the police. Because no one was telling us anything, Mandy adds, “we ended up doing a lot of looking into things that were going on and finding out things ourselves.” There was nobody around, so we were all alone. Scotland Tonight: Spiking in the Spotlight includes interviews with young victims of spiking as well as representatives from the hospitality sector in addition to Colin and Mandy Mackie.