NSW teenager dies after taking LSD

[Verybuffed]

Paul Dillon just spoke to the media:

NSW teen dies after taking LSD

A drug and alcohol expert has said it is unlikely that the death of a Central Coast teenager was caused by an LSD overdose.

Nick Mitchell, 15 suffered heart and respiratory problems after taking the drug with a friend, also 15, on Saturday.
But National Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Centre director Paul Dillon said it is more likely that the teen died from an incident relating to taking the hallucinogen.
Mr Dillon said there has been no documentation of a human death from an LSD overdose.
"It is unlikely that the teen died from an LSD overdose as the drug does not cause respiratory failure but it does alter the perception of the user," he said.
"The symptoms of taking the drug cause the person to go into a psychosis and hallucinate which may result in them walking in front of a car or getting into some type of an accident."

Mr Dillon said until the results of the toxicology are released, he will not speculate the cause of the teenager's death.
"Until we receive all the information, the best possible message we can get across is to provide the right information to the public," he said.
"There is an increase in usage of the drug especially among young people and the message is to warn them about the effects."
According to the police, Nick was found unconscious on his bedroom floor by his 11-year-old brother at their home in Tascott on Saturday.
The drug caused his friend to become psychotic and run naked into traffic.
He is in hospital with serious injuries after being hit by a car.

The two teenagers had been spending the day hanging out in Nick's granny flat-style bedroom and neighbours reported seeing them playing in the backyard pool showing no signs of anything abnormal.
Around 8.30pm AEDT Nick's younger brother made a frantic call to his mother saying he had found the teen slumped on the floor not breathing.
Police said officers later found the bedroom had been "smashed up".
A neighbour performed CPR on Nick as paramedics rushed over.
But the ambulance was stopped just around the corner from the Mitchell's house when it came across Nick's friend who had been struck by a car.
Another ambulance was sent out for Nick but he was pronounced dead on arrival at Gosford Hospital.
Detectives said the incident came after numerous other reports of people suffering serious side effects from LSD and there were fears a toxic batch of the drug could be circulating.
"LSD, if that's what it was, is an insidious drug. It's got a smiley face on it and looks harmless, but it kills," Detective Superintendent Nick Bingham told The Daily Telegraph.
Brazilian student Roberto Laudisio Curti died in Sydney's CBD in March after he took LSD, fell into a psychotic state and was tasered by police after a struggle.
Sources: The Daily Telegraph, Paul Dillon
Author: Bernadette Chua and Alys Francis. Approving editor: Nick Pearson

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2012/12/06/15/08/expert-says-teen-death-not-from-lsd-overdose

 

[poledriver]

Murdoch-News Journos Lie about LSD

… and are you really surprised?

The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) journalists Clementine Cuneo and Richard Noone put together an article, released on the 6th of December 2012, entitled, “Teenager Nick Mitchell’s LSD overdose – death, delusions and despair”.
Although the story focuses on the substance LSD as a source of “Death, delusions and despair” it does note that, “Police are awaiting toxicology results, but said evidence found in the boy’s bedroom suggested it was likely LSD had been consumed.”
The story follows a piece of rhetoric that came up recently in an article in Fairfax’s Sydney Morning Herald, “Many young people have started using hallucinogens because they are becoming more accessible and are relatively cheap, with LSD costing about $20 a tab, says (Paul) Dillon, the director of Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia.”
The cornerstone of this rhetoric is that the apparently out-of-fashion substance LSD is making a dangerous return. However, the Victorian Department of Health’s Patterns of Drug Use & related harm in Victoria reports over the past 15 years have shown no significant rise in the use of what the government refers to as ‘hallucinogens’, the category which includes LSD. Usage sits around the 1% of respondents mark. Director of Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia Paul Dillon is often quoted in these articles and seems to be suggesting that there has been a rise in the use of LSD. However, over at NineMSN the story is reported without all the irresponsible speculation. “Mr Dillon said until the results of the toxicology are released, he will not speculate the cause of the teenager’s death. “Until we receive all the information, the best possible message we can get across is to provide the right information to the public”"

The Death, Delusions, Despair version of the story has been syndicated across various other News Limited (Rupert Murdoch owned) papers, including South Australia’s Adelaide Now and Melbourne’s Herald Sun.

Read the story in full: http://www.news.com.au/national/tee...ions-and-despair/story-fndo4bst-1226530792737

I believe that such stories should not be allowed to go published without comment and complaint. Journalists needs to be held to the highest of standards, and we should expect responsible reporting from them, even when their industry is in a down-turn, papers are downsizing and profits are leaking from everywhere. These are not excuses for lazy, irresponsible and blatantly shit-house journalism. Here’s my complaint/comment:

I would like to make a complaint about the article entitled, “Teenager Nick Mitchell’s LSD overdose – death, delusions and despair”

Journalists Clementine Cuneo and Richard Noone have barely checked facts and jumped to conclusions that are inconsistent with known effects of the drug LSD. The headline itself claims that the teenager overdosed on LSD, but early on in the story it is noted that police believed he had taken LSD. Using phrases like, “such a deadly substance” when LSD is known to be a safer substance than Australia’s popular legal drugs alcohol and nicotine is irresponsible reporting. The story focuses on LSD being the deadly factor in this boy’s death, although the toxicology report is not yet in.

I will be interested to see what the toxicology report says, and speculate the substance was more likely the research chemical 25I-NBOMe, which some nefarious types sometimes sell as LSD.

It seems a hark back to ancient times to use the death of this boy to proliferate an obsolete and ill-thought-through ‘anti-drugs’ agenda.

I would like to see the article corrected and the irresponsible and scientifically unfounded speculation about what killed Nick Mitchell removed.

You should head across and send them a comment too.
Be careful if you decide to use a psychedelic substance like LSD. There is the potential for things to go wrong if your set and setting are not receptive to the experience. Know your body, know your mind and know your substance. Head to Erowid.org for more information on LSD.

http://enpsychedelia.org/enpsychedelia/blog/murdoch-news-journos-lie-about-lsd/

 

[Verybuffed]

Wow. Thanks Poledriver.

It has taken so long for this country to wake up. I am so glad that it is happening.

 

[poledriver]

thank Portillo, he posted it in ditm of the same thread as this, and I used your link and article over there, so thank you.

 

[opi8]

SD Type drug. That's.. what, exactly? A drug that alters the mind? Is it based on LSD? Does it have any similarities to LSD at all? What makes a drug, "Like" something else.

Personally, (with no knowledge or evidence) I think they are saying "LSD TYPE DRUG" because of the fact that it may have been delivered on a blotter. This is exactly what prohibition causes, unnecessary deaths.

I agree with everything you said cassandragemini, good post.

Edit: This tab was open and in the background, I didn't read poledriver's post before commenting. I won't change anything I wrote, but I will add that was awesome. A lot of my inner anger and frustration has now calmed down - now that I know there's other people with common sense in this country.

 

[Polluted_Mind]

Clearly wasn't LSD, but that won't stop the media from demonizing it. It's too much of a fuss to actually wait for any toxicology report and tell the truth, I mean illegal drugs are all Satanic death-substances anyway.

Also they mention that girl who died from "ecstasy"... they fail to mention that either that was the case where it wasn't "ecstasy" at all but PMA, or that the girl drank like 10L of water because she was scared of dehydration and it led to acute hyponatremia? Those are the only instances of "ecstasy death" I've ever comes across, at least here in Australia. 8(

 

[Peakingwithyou]

Maybe it was LSD and he had an existing heart condition and started to freak out and had a bad trip and got serious anxiety attack then died. His mate was with him and saw it and freaked watching his mate die and started to have a bad trip then went all crazy and did what he did and got hit by the car. Or could have been vice versa, the boy who died watched his friend go loopy get hit by a car, then lost it on it and went home got a panic attack and died? Is that not possible?

 

[Stevenski]

I agree with what has been said. It is just easier for the pigs & media swine to classify it as "LSD" rather than what it more likely is, a unknown research chemical.

On a personal note I knew Anna Wood & how can I put it? She was a innocent girl who was prepared to take drugs. When she was in year 7 she smoked some hot ones with me & a bunch of other year 9-10 students at school. Now my logic may be flawed but if she was punching hotties in year 7 it is highly likely that she was experimenting with other drugs before her "OD".

Her father is still upset & I completely understand that but he is also a media puppet who talks about things he has no factual knowledge of. He should applaud sites like BL for educating those who will take drugs. I don't give a fuck if this site "encourages" people to take drugs. That is a free choice we as human beings make. If it saves one life then it is worth it to continue to have a site such as this.

 

[TangerinO]

Maybe it was LSD and he had an existing heart condition and started to freak out and had a bad trip and got serious anxiety attack then died. His mate was with him and saw it and freaked watching his mate die and started to have a bad trip then went all crazy and did what he did and got hit by the car. Or could have been vice versa, the boy who died watched his friend go loopy get hit by a car, then lost it on it and went home got a panic attack and died? Is that not possible?

It's possible, but a far more likely scenario is an overdose of one of MANY MANY RC's that are cheaper, actually dangerous in high doses and widely spread on the market at the moment. This isn't the only incident of late, and they all seem to be attributed to NBome's being sold as LSD, and at huge doses at that. I personally know someone who had an overdose with NBome's laid at 1mg. Ridiculous amount. Thankfully they are okay now, but they were lucky.

I've had acute panic attacks on LSD. I've seen others have them, and worked them through them. I've seen people freaking out so bad that they've had to be held down by six people while they scream bloody murder. Hell there is even a Bluelight poster who's friend had a bad trip on four strong blotters and tried to rape and kill him. These situations are uncommon enough and just simply don't include heart attacks. The possibility of an existing heart condition is the only thing I can think of that makes it remotely possible, but still I don't really buy it. And even still we're back to lack of education and prohibition as the root cause.

This is all speculation and besides the point. This is just poor and blatantly irresponsible journalism at its best.

And I'm studying a god damn media degree. Dear God I'm in for a frustrating career.

 

[poledriver]

Warning to students of pill danger after the LSD death of teenager Nick Mitchell

TRAGIC drug victim Nick Mitchell and his classmates had only a week earlier been warned about the perils of popping illegal pills.

His Year 9 adviser at Gosford High School had spoken to a group of students about the dangers of taking drugs, but sadly for Nick and his friend it wasn't enough to stop them on Saturday from experimenting with a substance police believe to be the illegal and hallucinogenic drug LSD.

As family and friends come to terms with his death, police are closing on the source of a lethal batch of LSD, saying it is their main priority.

Nick's 11-year-old brother found him unconscious in his granny flat bedroom at the rear of the family's waterfront property at Tascott shortly before 9.30pm and called their mother at work.

About the same time as Nick's brother discovered his motionless body his friend, in a psychotic state, was struck by a car as he ran naked through traffic on nearby Brisbane Water Drive.

LIKE a carefree teenager, Nick Mitchell spent Saturday skateboarding with mates. Ten hours later the academically gifted teen was dead.
He was taken to hospital but has since been discharged.

Inspector Glenn Trayhurn said detectives had spoken to the teenager - who cannot be named for legal reasons - and he had provided some details of how they obtained the drug.

"We have spoken to him," he said.

"Not a lot of information (but) he's told us some things. Our information is they knew what they were buying."

Tracking down the dealer and source of the deadly batch of the drug commonly called acid will be a key focus of the police investigation.

It follows a number of recent incidents on the coast and Sydney in which people have been hospitalised after taking so-called "bad" drugs.

Insp Trayhurn said detectives would rely on intelligence of the local drug supply networks, the other boy's statements and "some members of the public that have provided information" to apprehend the dealer.

Nick had breathing problems and heart complications as a result of the drug but it will be another five weeks before toxicology results are known.

Gosford High students were shocked by Nick's death with many of them learning about it during assembly.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...er-nick-mitchell/story-e6freuy9-1226531614617

 

[drplatypus]

Really? A 15 year old who "knew what they were buying"?8(

Maybe they had a gas chromatograph stashed in their lunch box... Or an NMR under his bed in his granny flat...

And this is being considered credible information by the police? It begs the question as to why NSW are so keen to pin this death on LSD (despite all of the evidence to the contrary, and prior to any tissue toxicology...) The answer seems depressingly obvious.

 

[Verybuffed]

Really? A 15 year old who "knew what they were buying"?8(

Maybe they had a gas chromatograph stashed in their lunch box... Or an NMR under his bed in his granny flat...

And this is being considered credible information by the police? It begs the question as to why NSW are so keen to pin this death on LSD (despite all of the evidence to the contrary, and prior to any tissue toxicology...) The answer seems depressingly obvious.

Wow. drplatypus!

It has been too long. Please come back here and post regularly again if you can. I love reading your posts

I agree with you 100%. When I was 15 I had no idea of the difference between liquid, paper trips, round micro dots and micro dots that looked like lighter flints. They all could have been sold as the same substance.

I'd say that with with festival season coming up they are trying to Demonise LSD#25 again.

So did the kids drop a pill or a tab? The latest article warns about popping illegal pills. That is just going to make people think that the "legal" pill crap full of dodgy RC's is the way to go.

 

[Thou]

I'm pretty sure the ld50 is such that not one confirmed death has been attributed specifically to lsd alone.

In a regulated market 15 year olds might think twice before tasting lsd, look at Amsterdam or Portugal.

Probably a newer potent psychedelic, if a psychedelic at all. Just because it's a blotter doesn't mean it's not rat poison, bromo-dragonfly, brewers yeast, etc. In an unregulated market nobody but a chemist is going to tell you with any kind of accuracy what was on that paper.

Terrible article, Australia has some pretty draconian drug laws.

 

[MrIbis]

"It's truly heartbreaking that, despite the warnings about walking down the street at night, people still do it"

Just thought i'd jumble that up a little in light of the real dangers that seem to be terrorizing australia at the moment (ie; the increasing murder of young women at night in our cities)

 

[Thou]

More people die a year from horseback riding than adulterated ecstasy tablets.

So lets try and factor LSD into this equation.

The mind reels. The bullshit meter is off the charts.

 

[JessFR]

Just thought i'd jumble that up a little in light of the real dangers that seem to be terrorizing australia at the moment (ie; the increasing murder of young women at night in our cities)

Is that really true either? I mean yes there's been a few horrible cases recently, but for the past few decades all the stats I've seen show that things have been getting safer.

I get the point you're making though, I try not to rage about these things as much as I get older. I'm starting to just come to terms with the fact most of society is stupid and will believe anything if you phrase it right.

 

[Oldred3s]

The lethal dose for a rat is something like 12,000ug. So yeah no way this kid ate LSD. Police departments are so quick to judge on what the distances are that people either of on or he caught with. I got charged with possession of methamphetamine once because I had a bag of pills and I claimed till blue in the face that I didn't know what was in the bag and wasn't going to state if it was a drug or not. Although they couldn't send me to court untill the lab tests got back but they still wanted to charge me for meth. Stupid fucking cops

 

[drplatypus]

There are 3 case reports in which the death of a person(s) using LSD is described, and one involving an elephant (I shit you not).
(more detail at http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/lsd/lsd_death.shtml)

Fysh RR, Oon MCH, Robinson KN, Smith RN, et al. "A Fatal Poisoning with LSD". Forensic Sci Int 1985 Jun-Jul;28(2):109-13.

"a 25-year-old male died 16 h after being admitted to hospital, and a Coroner's enquiry concluded, on the basis of the medical and toxicological evidence, that the actual cause of death was poisoning by LSD."
[the most commonly quoted case, but now generally dismissed as an association rather than causative death these days- no clinical data provided]

Griggs EA, Ward M. "LSD Toxicity: A Suspected Cause of Death". J Ky Med Assoc. 1977 Apr;75(4):172-3.

"An extremely high liver tissue level of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was measured in a 34-year-old male in whom autopsy showed no anatomic cause of death. Death from LSD overdose apparently has not been previously confirmed toxicologically. The possibility that this case represents death due to toxic effect of LSD is discussed.

A partially clothed 34-year-old male was observed while engaged in bizarre behavior, and was subsequently accosted during an attempted break-in in November, 1975. He fled the scene and was found dead in a deserted warehouse, one month later. An autopsy was performed to ascertain, the cause of death."

[association only, again]

Klock JC, Boerner U, Becker CE. "Coma, Hyperthermia, and Bleeding Associated with Massive LSD Overdose, A Report of Eight Cases". Clin Toxicol 1975;8(2):191-203.

[not deaths but significant overdoses implicating LSD, powder taken in error]
"Eight patients were seen within 15 min of intranasal self-administration of large amounts of pure D-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) tartrate powder. Emesis and collapse occurred along with sign of sympathetic overactivity, hyperthermia, coma, and respiratory arrest. Mild generalized bleeding occurred in several patients and evidence of platelet dysfunction was present in all. Serum and gastric concentrations of LSD tartrate ranged from 2.1 to 26 ng/ml and 1000 to 7000 ug/100 ml, respectively. With supportive care, all patients recovered."

West LJ, Pierce CM, Thomas WD. (1962). Lysergic acid diethylamide: Its effects on a male Asiatic elephant. Science, 138, 1100-1102.

What can I say? It was the 60s... More at http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/lsd/lsd_history4.shtml

In summary, I think it is vanishingly unlikely that there have been 2 LSD deaths in NSW within the month. However, it worries me that at least one of those deaths hasn't been catalysed by a taser, and was in a 15 year old with a presumably fairly robust physiology. I think that our focus should be on formally identifying the compound, and warning other potential users. The facts we have are a) a dead 15 yo male, b) post ingestion of an unknown hallucinogen. If we accept that the medical facts make LSD a very unlikely candidate, what was it?

Yet another tragic example of a situation where a medically directed analytical program, in collaboration with consumers, and designed to quickly identify products that kill / harm young people, might have prevented this situation..

 

[cassandragemini]

Whoever said the police may be saying its LSD to put spin on the taser death of that Brazilian guy raised a good point, I wouldn't be in the slightest bit surprised of this was part of their MO. Talking about morality (which is what I think at least part of our drug laws are built on - not objective research), this to me - if it's true - is totally immoral and in my opinion should be condemned by society (and the government) far, far more than drug use is condemned. It's horrible to use an incident like a teenagers death to justify and put a positive spin on the actions of police who accidentally killed someone who was on LSD. Not cool. That to me is criminal.

We need to start our own bluelight investigation team, we could call it the Bluelight Objective & Rational Research & Investigation Squad (BORRIS for short!). We could investigate these kinds of incidents with whatever info we can gather and publish our own verdict. I'm kind of joking but it would be pretty cool, I reckon we could do a pretty good job, we're all pretty clued on and bluelight being the popular and well regarded website it is could bring in some talented and interesting people who could supply solid info and help with any claims. We could even have an anonymous hotline like 'crimestoppers' where people can provide info and there could be special 'investigative moderators' who investigate and run the cases. Who knows, it could actually become something, imagine proper news and investigative journalists using some of the info gathered here for their articles?

So let's say this kid wasn't on acid which most of us seem to think he wasn't - what other drugs could have caused effects like these? NBome? Bromo-dragonfly? Some other dangerous RC? Bad combinations? What are the drugs most likely to be available to a teenager living on the central coast that could do this?

 

[drplatypus]

cassandragemini, I think that this is a brilliant idea.
I have used the considerable expertise of Bluelight on a number occasions in the past (old names, the Bluelight Primes, like Johnboy, Phasedancer, and god-bless him, Cowboy Mac) to help me identify product and treat patients and really rate the "grass-roots" knowledge of the more serious posters. I would happy to provide clinical and analytical support. Would any of the Mods be interested in running with this? It could be quite a PR coup for the consuming community as well...