Leeds wrote:There needs to be more information for these unsupecting tourists who go to phnom phen and ends up been sold HEROIN in place of a relatively harmless party drug COCAINE. So many tourists have died of this now with still no information been put in front of them. Marc had died just 27 years old and left a loving family and friends behind, he wouldent of dreamed about touching anything if he new what was been given.
This needs to stop now, there needs to be information at the boarders, airports and hotels to stop more mother having to burry there own sons!!!

Leeds wrote:Yes it's easy to say common sense, and there stupid but does that mean more people have to die. The heroin that is sold is exactly the same look as cocaine. Obviously you shouldn't buy it in the first place but people still do, that doesn't mean the problem should be forgot because it's there mistake. It's not hard to have a leaflet given when you enter the country warning about different scams. Why should more people die when it can be prevented with giving information.

Very sorry for everyone's loss regarding Marc.

A few things...

While I totally agree with MM about them not being the same, it would be an easy mistake to make, especially when likely already drunk, and especially if it was mixed.

If it was half and half, I'm not even sure it would fail most people's coke-taste-test.

I recently went on vacation with a guy to a random country. "He" bought a few bags of coke with no problems.

The last bag was "something" else. He realized it late night when drunk. We inspected it. Ruled out coke for sure.

We decided it was most likely ecstasy. That was good enough for him to go ahead and do it! I called him an idiot, and he passed that night.

I refused to touch it at this point. The next night he went ahead and did it. We both still thought it was ecstasy afterwards. But the fuck if I was going to touch it, not really knowing what it was! ! !

I seriously don't see Cambodia warning people at the airport to be careful when they buy coke because it could be heroin. That would tarnish their flawless reputation.

Therefore I just hope these cases get as much publicity as possible back in their respective countries. It really is a problem and if people are aware of it, less likely to make this mistake.

Anyways, it's a terrible loss and I just hope a few more people are aware of the dangers here when purchasing illicit materials in Cambodia, or anywhere really. It does seem that Marc had already traveled all over the world, so glad to see he lived it up when he had the chance!

Leeds wrote:Also I saw this heroin and I've seen cocaine 100s of times so let me tell you it does look exactly the same.

"This heroin"? You mean the bag that Marc had? If so, did they test the bag to confirm exactly what it was?

And I agree, the more information available about these cases to people visiting Cambodia the better.

Anything else helpful about the case that you can share?

This was a warning about drugs from a Cambodian telecommunications company that was sent to everyone via SMS today:

"Using illicit drugs will cause acts of violence and crime!"



They could have added, "and be careful when you buy coke that it's not heroin."