NEWS: Herald Sun - 20/01/08 'Raving mad at GHB websites'

Raving mad at GHB websites
Nui Te Koha
January 20, 2008 12:00am

RAVERS are using internet sites to promote the rave/dance drug GHB.

Police and the Department of Human Services are monitoring several pro-GHB sites that encourage "blowing out" or overdosing.

Many sites and forums advise regular GHB users to buy a $70 ambulance subscription to avoid paying for a $2000 ride to hospital.

On the sites, users joke about overdosing and arrange events.

Paul Dillon, of Drug and Alcohol Research Training Australia, said the websites should be shut down.

"Users say there are so-called rules, and if you follow these rules, you will be safe," Mr Dillon said.

"But there is a real danger you'll end up in a hospital emergency room, overdosed, with your respiratory system shut down."

Major dance event promoters warn the drug is prevalent.

Jason Ayoubi, of Future Entertainment, which runs the New Year's Day event Summadayze, said GHB was the main drug they were fighting.

"GHB, and its users, are not welcome at our events," he said.

"It is a dirty drug that is wrecking the dance scene."

"Users have a propensity to overdose and it ties up medical resources - paramedics, ambulances and emergency rooms," he said.

Metropolitan Ambulance Service officers were horrified GHB users were planning their trips to hospital.

"GHB is a terrible drug," paramedic Alan Eade said.

"You will, at some point, regardless of how often you use the drug, overdose."

GHB, often sold for $1 per dose, is also known as liquid ecstasy.

It was taken in more than 20 overdose cases during two events at Kryal Castle last year.

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Herald Sun

Everything seems to be a dirty drug. I guess they've just found a new way to say "drugs are bad".

^ Yeah, I guess it's their new method of getting stylish young people to consider their drug choices. Wouldn't want to be associated with something 'dirty' 8)

IMO alcohol is one of the dirtiest drugs out there, it's all about personal preference; don't tell me my drugs are dirty!

"You will, at some point, regardless of how often you use the drug, overdose."

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Not if you're careful...but with the shitty drug education around these days it seems a lot less likely people are gonna be careful. That's why we got BlueLight.

And are these sites they are talking about really encouraging ODing, or is this a bullshit interpration? I agree though that an OD is nothing to take lightly.

i personally don't use G
only had it just that once, and i blew out cos i didnt know how to dose it, i admit the rush it gave me was pretty fuckin awesome, but feeling inebriated isnt something i enjoy,
i agree with mr blonde, alcohol is one of the dirtiest drugs out there.

with the media it all comes down to illegality,
but to be completely honest, looking at the cost of alcohol and tobacco.
i'm happy for illicit drugs to remain illegal.
remains mostly tax free this way, i guarantee my dealer will charge me a lot less than the government will..
theiving bastards lol.

however... do the news make mention of sites that are tryin to stop G users?
such as this myspace

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=296029970



but i did have the awesome privilege of attending ultraworld @ kryal in december 07.
was a fucking amazing show.

it was my 4th time at the castle, but the first time without any pills.. was just wandering around in a lysergic state was fantastic.

but.. i did see some of these "overdoses" first hand
it was nothing more than people blowing out.
one guy was carried into the medical area, barely conscious (blowing out obviously) before they gave him any kind of treatment. he was up and charging... tryin to open cupboards while the medics tried to get him to sit down...

he'd sit down momentarily... get back up and then try to open cupboards.

and out of the 18 or whatever OD cases there were, only 3 needed hospital attention.
not bad for a 5000+ crowd really.

in an environment swarming with cops and sniffers, how are people supposed to safely dose themselves with g,

even as i was tryin to unwrap my 2nd tab from the alfoil... in the dark... i was paranoid someone would see me doing this.
(probably looked really suss doing it too lol)

i love the "ice is a dirty drug" ads lately tho..

i had some meth from the states a little while back.
now that is a "dirty" feeling..

compare that to crystal from aus, or even ice...

you read the australian government issued, drugs "FACT" pack...
that booklet even mentions that one of the qualities of ice is it's purity..

admittedly, not the most well-written guide ever.

basically says that lsd and psilocybin are the same thing.
nothing about 2c, nothing about DXM or foxy...

but really, theres always gonna be this stereotyping and scaremongering by the media and the government.

anyone that tries to tell me about any sort of substance... i refer them here or to erowid.
my mum the other day telling me that acid and speed are dangerous
when she smokes a pack of cigis a day, and drinks most weekends.
and her piece of shit husband has his own hydro shed and supplies all of my brothers.
its general misinformation to demonise everything...

i am hating on the pricks who blew out at the last kryal atm,
simply because richie rich has cancelled the next festival that was scheduled to go ahead at kryal.

G usage and the senselessness of experimenting with something (ghb) that has little or no margin for error is ridiculous!

So much so, we're sick to death of it and are not doing Kryal in February until we feel the crowd in general is ready to respect the situation.

I know its a minority out there ruining it for everyone, but I am sick to death of being plastered as PUBLIC ENEMY 1. When we don't condone such stupid behaviour.

Anyone taking G, and these myspace sites that support it (someone referred me to a couple of sites to check out), need to be locked up. For they have real MENTAL issues.

I don't condone MDMA or Ecstasy use either, but hey people use it and we deal with it. It's so commercial now everyone uses it: doctors, lawyers, public servants you name it.

I was saying I would prefer for that minority to be taking somthing like E instead of G, as G has caused more ODs in one weekend than Ecstasy has over 200 events I have held with close to 500, 000 attending them.

Now that is scary and absurd and ridiculous at the same time, but its true.

Anyone supporting G and using it really has deeper mental issues we cant fix. And for that we're really sorry but we can't do anything really to help them, they need to go and get psyche help.

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^^quote taken from melbourne shuffler forums on myspaz.
this is apparently Richie Rich's reason as to cancelling the Universe festival for feb 23 2008

GHB, often sold for $1 per dose, is also known as liquid ecstasy.

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what a load. even watered down 1,4b is like ten times that now.
Im not against having G at raves. I find it much more fun than taking E. Less anxiety related to the pill and the come up etc. You know (with pure) what dose to take and how you react to it.
I often only have E etc. towardsa the end of the event for peaking at home after the event. Do the whole weed and bulb out thing ("cracking") to get the most out of the MDMA or other drugs/psychedelics. Then have G to goto sleep or make the comedown feel good after n2o runs out.

Leave the blowing out at home.

"GHB is a terrible drug," paramedic Alan Eade said. "You will, at some point, regardless of how often you use the drug, overdose."

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Wow .... and here I was, thinking that it's the dose that causes people to blow out 8)

The definition of overdosing on GHB is a personal opinion.
People do use the drug to "overdose" after stimulant use, just like they use valium or stilnox to "overdose" and goto sleep.

Splatt is exactly right; technically, an OD is just a dose over what is considered the normal dose for the substance. You could say a bad overdose is one when you take a dose higher then you were ready for/expecting, and don't feel too good about it. Could possibly be very bad for your health.

Right now, you could say I have OD'd on Temazepam. The bottle I took the pills from said take one when needed. I've taken 5, had a little bit of vodka and am feeling pretty sweet! :D

Shalom!

Ravers plan to overdose on drugs as revenge
Wednesday Feb 6 13:00 AEDT
By ninemsn staff

Ravers in Ballarat are planning to deliberately overdose on drugs as a form of payback because of local opposition to an annual dance party.

Comments posted on the internet in the past few days have called on people to deliberately 'blow-out' in the hope that they overwhelm health services with dozens of overdose cases.

Ballarat Heath Services (BHS) chief executive Andrew Rowe said he was appalled at the suggestions of ravers purposely overdosing on drugs.

"People have to be reminded that we are talking about illicit drugs and these drugs have resulted in multiple overdoses at the Kryal Castle rave parties," Mr Rowe told the Moorabool Leader.

BHS has previously called for the local raves to be banned because of the pressure it has put on the hospital's emergency department.

Two dance parties held last year at Kryal Castle in Moorabool resulted in 26 ravers being taken to hospital with overdoses.

One emergency doctor who was at last December's rave likened it to a 'war zone'.

"I've worked at very large music events for the last nine years and this was the worst event I've ever been to," Dr Nigel Beck told the Ballarat Courier.

"We relied on other patrons as much as anyone else to find the overdoses in such a large and darkened complex and we didn't have time to wander around picking people up off the ground."

Rave organiser Richie McNeill notified police of the plans, who then informed BHS.

"The position of the police is not to stop the raves, it's to control the environment and makes it as safe as possible," Moorabool Criminal Investigation Unit Det-Sgt Tony Coxall told the Moorabool Leader.

"If there's going to be an intentional overdose, and there's clear intelligence to that effect, we could change our stance because that's a situation we could not control."

Moorabool Shire Council has not banned the raves, but has asked that the conditions of the raves be tightened.

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Ninemsn

Some of these people overdosing just had a normal amount of G.

They'd see someone looking fucked up sitting down. Ask what they're on. If they said G or knew it was G, they were "overdosing".. Said pills and they'd just think "bloody munters who took a few too many"...

Blowing out at a rave though is pretty lame. I've done it and I missed half of a $80-90 rave.. (although funnily enough it was just my friends slapping my face to stop me from blowing out, no one else intervened.. even security guards.. lol @ brisbane). Also it looks fucked when you see someones neck fully blown-out and hanging down like a dead person. Save blowing out for when you're at home and make sure you lie on your side, not your back incase you vomit. Also found lying on your back on G makes sure you aren't breathing properly.

Does anyone know what site or forum people were saying they were going to blow out for revenge?

Got to say, having run many a gig over the years, I'm with FE and everyone else on this one, it is an absolutely unwelcome pain in the arse. It's hard enough dealing with massive crowds and the issues you normally get, dealing with pissed off cops, over worked ambos and the hysterical media, licensing guys a god knows who else really makes it not worth the bother.

I don't care what you use, but just think of how it affects others. If you want to blow out, sit on the couch and do it. Or run your own party and take all the risk (financial and otherwise).

I love GHB at raves. For me its much more of a social and party drug than ecstasy. I normally need G so I'm not spewing at raves etc from the MDMA too.
But after the mistake last year Im not going to blow out at a rave but i will definitely still take it, knowing my doses and my purity.