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On a sunny day two years ago Anne-Marie Cockburn's phone rang.

At the end of the line was a stranger who told her that her 15-year-old daughter was gravely ill and and they were trying to save her life.

Martha had swallowed half a gram of white powder.

It emerged later that before taking the powder Martha had looked online for ways to take drugs safely.

Her Internet history revealed she had carefully researched the risks and opted to buy a relatively expensive version of the drug ecstasy, perhaps assuming the better quality it was, the safer it would be.

The powder she took, bought for £40 from a dealer, was 91per cent pure MDMA.

Martha didn't survive and within two hours of taking it she was dead.

She was Anne-Marie's only child.

Most parents would have lashed out blaming their child, her friends, or the dealer or the manufacturer.

The response of her mother, Anne-Marie, 43, has been unusual – and instead of blaming she began to look into the reasons her daughter died.

Her conclusions have been that far from chasing drug use underground by keeping them illegal were the trade were open and regulated her daughter might still be alive.

She said: “I was blissfully ignorant about the world of drugs before Martha died.

“Afterwards I looked at her Internet history and found that she had been researching ways to take drugs safely.

“I’ve said that “Martha wanted to get high, she didn’t want to die”.

All parents would prefer one of those options to the other. And while no one wants drugs being sold to children, if Martha had got hold of legally regulated drugs meant for adults, labelled with health warnings and dosage instructions, she would not have gone on to take 5-10 times the safe dose.

“Surely it would be better than criminals running it? It's about safety. At the moment young people are buying drugs with a blank label.

“You're not going to stop young people taking risks, experimenting. It's about harm reduction. You want to live in a safe society? This is about safety.

"In some ways I woke up once Martha was gone. Although it's so painful, I feel so alive, I feel everything and I have all this time and energy that I had devoted to Martha that I can now dedicate to changing things for the better."

Anne Marie was close to her daughter and the pair had been due to go away with her daughter the weekend after she died.

Shortly before 12.45pm on July 20, 2013, Anne-Marie texted her to tell her the name of the hotel she'd booked in Bristol for the following weekend. Martha responded simply: "Cute."

It was the last time she heard from her instead she next saw her in hospital as doctors battled to save her.

Anne-Marie said: “Ever since she died I've looked for answers.

“I've spoken to experts and read books and blogs and spoken to other bereaved parents to see what we can do about this.

“Prohibition did not keep Martha safe.”

She has thrown her support behind Anyone's Child a campaign by families of drug victims for safer drug control which pushes for legal regulation whereby ingredients would be listed and dosage information given.

Writing in support of the campaign she said: “When I hear the news that a young person has died and yet another family has joined the bereaved parents’ club, I feel helpless as I wonder how many more need to die before someone in government will actually do something about it?

“As I stand by my child’s grave, what more evidence do I need that things must change? Isn’t this loss of precious lives an indicator of a law that is past its sell-by date and in need of urgent reform?

“A good start would be to conduct the very first proper review of our drug laws in over 40 years and to consider alternative approaches. But the people in power turn away from it.

“They play an amazing game of “Let’s pretend”. Well there’s no way for me to hide – every day I wake up, the stark reality of Martha’s absence hits me once again.

“As I write this, I have been without my girl for 643 days. It sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? But in the aftermath, time becomes distorted and meaningless. So to represent my beloved Martha, it is my quest to align myself with those who can help progress this conversation.

“That is why I’m involved with the Anyone’s Child project. This unique chorus of voices cannot be ignored; there is nowhere to hide from our harrowing stories.

“But with every step this project takes in pursuit of political change, one more set of footprints on this earth will hopefully be saved from being extinguished.”

Anne-Marie says Martha will never be forgotten by anybody who met her and recalls how the teenager would walk her three-legged rabbit, Bluebell, around the local streets.

She will never forget their trips away adding: "I'm so grateful that we saw so many places, went on so many trips.

"When I was 15 I'd only been to Germany: but Martha had been to America and Croatia, France and Greece, Ireland and Italy, Spain and Singapore.

"She rode on a camel in Egypt, went on an elephant in Bali, snorkelled on the Great Barrier Reef.

"She lived for 5,472 days, seven hours and 36 minutes, and her life was full of adventure – and I'm so happy I shared so many of those adventures with her.

“I want to prevent another parent feeling another loss like mine and the world losing another Martha.”

More information on Anyone's Child on their JustGiving page.