UK man finds ecstasy tablets in used copy of GTA

by Xav de Matos { Apr 8th 2009 at 5:45PM }

A UK father of two said he found four tablets, which police say is likely ecstasy, within a used Grand Theft Auto game that he purchased at a Gamestation in the county of Gloucestershire. Richard Thornhill, 34, found the pills wrapped in plastic and hidden inside the instruction manual of one of two unspecified GTA games when he returned home from the store, reports the Telegraph. While still shocked at the incident, Thornhill was thankful the pills were discovered by him, dreading to think "what the consequences" would be, had his children found it.

In the wake of the strange discovery, Gamestation reps maintain the company's policy is for staff to follow "rigorous procedures" when accepting trades. Perhaps the new company policy would add a four-legged employee into the mix to sniff out any future issues. Both Gamestation and the Gloucestershire Police are investigating the incident.

[Via GamePolitics]

Tags: drugs, ecstasy, gamestation, strange, telegraph, uk, used-games

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Temidien @ Apr 8th 2009 5:49PM

A responsible father buying GTA for his kids, now THAT's news!

MowDownJoe @ Apr 8th 2009 5:52PM

Indeed... since it seems almost oxymoronic to me. He cares enough about his kids to make sure they don't take drugs like ecstasy, but he doesn't care enough to moderate the type of games his kids play? Or maybe he's just ignorant about video games... I'd probably go with that.

Meta @ Apr 8th 2009 5:58PM

Or he bought it for himself.

Brodo @ Apr 8th 2009 5:58PM

Wow.. I would love to buy a copy of Imagine Babyz and have a real baby come out of the box!!

eldee @ Apr 8th 2009 6:24PM

that's the first thing I thought too.. what kind of responsible parent buys his kids grand theft auto, and then complains about the morality of hiding drugs in a game case.

And yeah, he may have been buying it for himself- but why would he be worried about his kids 'finding it' if that were the case?

bill51 @ Apr 8th 2009 6:47PM

The story says his son is 12. Responsible parents usually raise kids well enough that by 12 they can handle a violent or adult game (depending on the kid). The whole "reality" and "fantasy" lesson seems to help.

Just a guess though.

fffunfarm06 @ Apr 8th 2009 7:54PM

did somebody say free rolls???
f*ck man i could totally take 3 pink Pisces and a blue lady right now and id be set son!

Alphathon @ Apr 8th 2009 8:50PM

@bill51:

Exactly. When I was that age my parents didn't mind what games I played or what movies I watched (within reason...for example pornos were off limits) because I I'm not (and wasn't then) easily influenced, and they knew it...funnny how these days my dad tries to tell me off when I swear (I'm 21 ffs). Never really understood what the problem with swearing is anyway tbh. Why does it matter if you use meaningless (in the context they are generally used) curse words? They are used for emphasis and nothing more. What really matters is the meening of what you say (like "I'm gunna f*ck you up" while brandishing a lead pipe is infinitelly worse than yelling f*ck when you stub your toe or something)...ummm...I seem to have gone off topic a little...anyway...when I was a kid my folks were more bothered about me spending too much time gaming etc and wasting my life.

In short letting a 12 year old play GTA is fine (as long as the 12 year old has the right mindset. Some 12 year olds should clearly not) but drugs are illigal for a reason (although some questionable, such as canabis. Ecstacy on the other hand is rather dangerous) so it makes perfect sense.

As a side note, most games in the UK have PEGI ratings (european equivalent to ESRB for those wondering) which are there as a guidline and are not legally enforcable (except in Finland and Norway, and partially Austria). Of course some games such as GTA carry the BBFC ratings system like films do, which is legally enforcable (GTA games are generally rated 18).

Alex @ Apr 9th 2009 3:44AM

I played MGS on the PS1 when I was 10, and so far I haven't killed anyone, or thought about how I would kill someone.
I played GTA III on the PS2 and have never hijacked a car, ran anyone over or been involved in gang wars.
I played Gears of War when I was 15, and have never tried to buy a chainsaw.

It's not the parent's fault if their kid is 'affected' by video games. It would be kid's fault because he never grew up since the day he thought he was a dinosaur.

eldee @ Apr 10th 2009 1:37AM

so, a 12 year old is responsible enough to play drug-deal minigames? A kid about to hit puberty, hey lets give him a game that glorifies drug trade and use... he won't have any problems in the future i'm sure. lets give the girl a teen prostitution game too while we're at it

Dirty @ Apr 8th 2009 5:50PM

They're on to us!

Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Apr 8th 2009 5:51PM

wow....this reminds me of the time I went to get a copy of Saw 4 and found pictures of a Severed head inside of it...

**Cues up Clip**

KarlW @ Apr 8th 2009 7:37PM

Anyone you know?

Linkario @ Apr 8th 2009 7:46PM

Was she hot?

Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Apr 8th 2009 8:40PM

oooooh We dont have the clip????

Blast!!!

Alex @ Apr 9th 2009 3:46AM

I don't like Family Guy.

I got the joke though.

NoughtSoClever @ Apr 9th 2009 10:36AM

Yeah. Family Guy is like the Simpsons but without the charm. Yes I know the humor is different too.

Fernando Rocker @ Apr 8th 2009 5:52PM

Nice hair!

Too bad I had to cut a lot of my hair because I was working some time in a business that didn't allow long hair.

Well.. at least it's longer now...

http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p236/fernando_rocker/?action=view¤t=HNI_0017.jpg

DSi...

Sly (PSN slycooper_rocker) @ Apr 8th 2009 5:55PM

damn your hair is long. most of the girls at my school have shorter hair than you.

eugaet @ Apr 8th 2009 5:58PM

Your hair's about the same length as mine...may have you beat by a half-inch. My son's hair used to be longer than mine...as did my daughter and wife. Then they all three got haircuts. Now I have the longest hair in the family.

Fernando Rocker @ Apr 8th 2009 6:19PM

Long hair FTW!

=p

Lee @ Apr 8th 2009 6:39PM

wow.
whereas most computer nerd hair is shitty looking that actually looks smooth and well managed. nerds= take note.

Fernando Rocker @ Apr 8th 2009 6:46PM

I use a cheap shampoo... the Suave one. They have a line of shampoo and conditioner that imitates expensive brands like Sebastian and Redken.

But I use a different Suave every week (I have three different Suave shampoo), because if I keep using the same shampoo for a long time, my hair become dry and with a lot of build up.

Linkario @ Apr 8th 2009 7:47PM

Never cross a man that claims to use a different suave each week. Hard... core...

Diskoboy7 @ Apr 8th 2009 5:52PM

You put a raver in a picture for an article about extacy.

Not a stoner from a movie about the 70's.

myabsolution @ Apr 8th 2009 5:54PM

I think uve been watching too much CSI.

Lots of stoners do E.

Farseer (GDI) @ Apr 8th 2009 5:57PM

dude.

wait, what?

mrbigjonstud @ Apr 8th 2009 5:53PM

ha ha that's one way to boost GTA sales, 4 free tabs :)

Anticrawl @ Apr 8th 2009 5:56PM

Because the only way you could enjoy the constant stream of man-dates is with the help of some X.

Rhamsey @ Apr 8th 2009 6:29PM

i think this story would have been funnier if the e was found in viva pinata or something.

Levi (God Hand Defense Force) @ Apr 8th 2009 6:47PM

Even better Rhamsey, Rez or Frequency!

WiredKnight @ Apr 8th 2009 10:57PM

Four. Sure.

D_Average @ Apr 8th 2009 5:55PM

"And suddenly the young boy quit GTA, went into Home, and proceeded to dance in front of random crowds...."

Tigresa @ Apr 8th 2009 5:55PM

That's good, no one even checked the box then to see if the disc was in it to begin with.

Deserving of minimum wage at its finest.

Sly (PSN slycooper_rocker) @ Apr 8th 2009 5:56PM

that's either the best marketing ever, or the stupidest thing i've heard of yet. can't tell at this point.

Farseer (GDI) @ Apr 8th 2009 5:56PM

"...dreading to think 'what the consequences' would be, had his children found it."

ummm... wouldn't they say, hey Dad (or Mum)! Look what we found in the game case!
I guess that maybe his children are indeed prone to instantly swallowing every random pill they find. If that's the case, then I think that this particular UK father should seriously analyze his role as a father, and maybe not buy M-rated titles for his children.

Courtney @ Apr 8th 2009 6:04PM

Well, if the kid is playing GTA games, then clearly they have likely already severely warped his decision making ability, so it seems virtually inevitable that should the child randomly encounter drugs, he will immediately begin shoving them into his mouth as quickly as possible.

Hyams @ Apr 8th 2009 6:06PM

Don't be silly.

Like all responsible parents, he taught his childen to eat all unknown objects they find.

Alphathon @ Apr 8th 2009 9:45PM

@Courtney:
That is rather a conservative view. There is nothing wrong with a 12 year old playing an 18 rated (this was in the UK, so it's 18, not M) as long as said 12 year old is mature enough to both distinguish fantasy (games) from reality and not be influenced by the actions. I know a lot of people (including myself) who were, but quite a few others that weren't (usually does little harm, just turns them into those annoying kids you get on Live and the PSN). It is actually better parenting to allow them to do things like that (if ready of course) than to deny it purly on the grounds that it is rated 18. The same goes for alcohol etc, which is why (in the UK at least) it is legal to drink in your own home from the age of 5 with adult supervision (the legal age to buy alcohol is 18* btw). The point is that it is at the parents discression. Those who are allowed to do so are far less likelly to rebel or go off the rails when they are allowed to do these things, and also tend to respect their parents more. Repect is a mutual affair - if parents respect their childs intelliegence and maturity enough to say "yes, you are ready to play this, 12 or not" then the child is far more likelly to listen something IS forbidden. If things like that are forbidden outright without any consideration that the child may be ready, then the child becomes desensitised to rules and just sees unfairness - "Why is this forbidden?" and so tend to apply the same logic to all things (drugs, promiscuous sex, violence etc). Also you have to remember that ratings have to be quite conservative - they have to cover EVERYONE of that age, and as you should know, not everyone matures at the same rate.

Besides, why is a ratings authority neccessarily a better judge of these things than the parents? They don't know the child, so they must generalise. Basically ratings systems are there to say "If your child is over -insert age here- then this is suitable." not "This is unsuitable for EVERYONE under -insert age here-".

Of course for that system to work requires that the parents actually know the child. Parents who just sit their kid in front of the TV of PC or console from a young age and don't properly interact with their child can't really be a good judge (and by doing so are generally terrible parents anyway). That is the kind of child that the ratings really apply, but unfortunatelly also the ones that are less likelly for them to be adhered to. Worst case scenario this makes people who end up on the news having killed people their only moral guidance comes from violent TV, movies and games.

*You can techincally buy Beer, Cider**, Port, Perry or Wine*** from the age of 16 with a meal.
**In the UK, Cider refers to an alcoholic beverage made from apples of about 5-10% ABV/10-20 proof, refered to as hard cider in the US I believe
***Wine is Scotland only