killarava2day
Ex-Bluelighter
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- Nov 11, 2001
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Party drug 'mini-epidemic'
July 25, 2002
HEALTH authorities have warned young people to be wary of a party drug which caused a mini-epidemic of overdoses in Melbourne's club scene at the weekend.
Victorian Health Minister John Thwaites today said a particularly dangerous batch of fantasy (gamma-hydroxybutyrate, also known as liquid ecstasy) had put five young men in the Alfred hospital last weekend.
And he joined the Alfred's director of emergency services, Associate Professor Mark Fitzgerald, in warning people against taking the potentially lethal drug this weekend.
"It's the sort of thing that people might be taking and they've just got no control over the effect it will have on them," Mr Thwaites said.
"If you've taken this you won't know what it's going to do to you - it could lead to an overdose or it could lead to death."
Prof Fitzgerald said people consumed the drug in liquid form, and if it had no effect they took more and then became unconscious.
He said there was no antidote for the drug, which was supposed to enhance sexual sensitivity.
But the five men who overdosed on the weekend were eventually revived by respirators.
July 25, 2002
HEALTH authorities have warned young people to be wary of a party drug which caused a mini-epidemic of overdoses in Melbourne's club scene at the weekend.
Victorian Health Minister John Thwaites today said a particularly dangerous batch of fantasy (gamma-hydroxybutyrate, also known as liquid ecstasy) had put five young men in the Alfred hospital last weekend.
And he joined the Alfred's director of emergency services, Associate Professor Mark Fitzgerald, in warning people against taking the potentially lethal drug this weekend.
"It's the sort of thing that people might be taking and they've just got no control over the effect it will have on them," Mr Thwaites said.
"If you've taken this you won't know what it's going to do to you - it could lead to an overdose or it could lead to death."
Prof Fitzgerald said people consumed the drug in liquid form, and if it had no effect they took more and then became unconscious.
He said there was no antidote for the drug, which was supposed to enhance sexual sensitivity.
But the five men who overdosed on the weekend were eventually revived by respirators.