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NEWS: News.com.au - 2/2/09 'Girl dies of Big Day Out drug overdose'


Girl dies after Big Day Out overdose
Joseph Sapienza and Aja Styles
February 2, 2009 - 3:32PM

A 17-year-old girl admitted to hospital after a suspected drug overdose at yesterday's Big Day Out concert in Perth has died overnight.

A friend of the family told 6PR Radio that the girl took three ecstasy tablets before entering the festival's gates after she spotted police searching people for drugs.

The witness said the girl then went on a ride with friends when she began to shake and her lips turned blue.

Within moments she collapsed and was taken to hospital, where she died early this morning.

Police confirmed the girl had taken a number of pills before entering the event, which was held in 36-degree heat and humidity.

It is understood she was treated for a suspected ecstasy overdose at a first-aid post before being taken to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.

The Police Major Crime Squad and Organised Crime Squad are investigating the source of the drugs to see if charges should be laid.

The cause of girl's death is yet to be confirmed by a post-mortem examination.

Police with sniffer dogs laid about 60 charges for drug-related offences at the Showgrounds train station, targeting festivalgoers yesterday.

They charged 55 people with possession, three people with intent to sell or supply, and four with possessing smoking implements.

Drugs seized included ecstasy, methamphetamine, cannabis and dexamphetamine.

Another 32 people were charged with liquor infringements and six people were charged with disorderly conduct.

Steve Allsop, from the National Drug Research Institute, said taking any pill was a gamble.

"One of the risks is that people don't know what it is they're taking. What they were taking one week will vary the next week. The problem with a drug such as ecstasy is that people are lulled into a false sense of security about what they're taking," he said.

"Some people are also more vulnerable to the risks than others. Some people react with more adverse reactions than others and they don't find out until it's too late.

"It can cause cardiac problems, such as irregular heartbeats and increased blood pressure and can lead to a possible stroke for those who are already vulnerable.

"Ecstasy also interferes with the regulation of our body temperature. There is an increased vulnerability to dehydration and in 38- to 40-degree heat a person can go into a coma or in some cases people can die.

"Ecstasy related deaths are often in hot environments where the body can't cool down. So if a person's normal temperature is 38.5 degrees, a person who is unwell has a temperature of 40 degrees and in some of these cases their temperature is 43 to 44 degrees.

He recommended that friends not hesitate to call for help if a friend showed any signs of being adversely affected by drugs.

Sydney Morning Herald
 
well i hope the police are proud of this effort. Harm maximisation at its best. Such a shame for that girl and her family that she became a victim of the war on drugs.
 
absolute tragedy!

but how does it somehow become the fault of the police???

She was the one who decided to go to the event/on a hot day/take the drugs all at once! She made that fatal decision - no one else!

A sad waste of life but not due to the police!
 
I honestly can't believe this has happened, what a fucking joke and a tragedy. While the police run around looking for those who supplied her with those drugs so they have someone to blame, are they going to deny their own culpability in this death?

Ever since sniffer dogs have been used on drug users at music festivals, many people in the drug and alcohol field have warned that this is exactly the outcome they should expect.

In all that time, what exactly have they achieved, even given an average of say 40-odd arrests per event and an overwhelming majority of them minor possession charges? A lot of young people have warnings on their record, a very small number of low-level dealers have been busted... and drugs are more prevalent at music festivals than ever.

So much so that, and you can see it in cultural references like the Festival Song by Pez, that drug-taking is closely linked with young people's expectations of the festival experience today.

The Police Major Crime Squad and Organised Crime Squad is now launching inquiries to find where the drugs came from and to see if someone could be charged.
Click to expand...

If that's what helps them sleep at night... :X 8)
 
This is very sad news. My thoughts go out to famiy and friends.
17 is way too young.

Hopefully some more information will emerge in coming days. If there is a batch of bad bics doing the rounds would be good to get the word out to prevent further harm.
 
What also shits me here is they way they always target events like these. For once I'd love to see the drug sniffer dogs out the front of the ARIA awards or the Logies or some other red carpet event wear all the stars come out and play.
 
So many times me and my friends dumped before going in, out of fear of dogs... This proves they do more damage :p
 
The police can't say they are supriised this has happend, we and plenty others have been whineing about people eating all their drugs on sight of the dogs for ages. Have we reached a point where the police believe drugs are so morally wrong that they will hunt the users to their deaths and the deaths are acceptable? (higher up cops anyway)

Will they give them selfs a pat on their back when they catch the dealer and not feel in the slightest bit guilty, that if they wernt their, this probably wouldn't have happened?

Heck the governemnt might give them a pay rise to fight this drug problem.

Another casuality of the war on drugs, "collateral" the government might think.

Poor chick, RIP
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agreed exactly
 
theres a lot of piperazine and piperazines mixe with MDMA,
In europe its already well known MDMA and MCPP or Fliperazine has caused deaths when people mixed pills and then finally got MDMA pills. The infamous multi colour pills that were the first mcpp pressed pills nearly a deacade ago that were found actually killed someone without other drugs.

lips turning blue doesn't sound like MDMA only

hope they do a proper test to see what drug she took

And to the Drug Squad. stop putting on an act for the media with sniffer dogs when you allow a certain NZ ex-shop to pollute the australian market with do it yoyurself pill press plus ingredients..and pre-mixed piperazine mixed pills with any logo you want for $1 ea. you know who you are. you read this forum
 
your responsible for your own actions , no one made her do it if she was that scared she should have left them at home , no one should blame the police at all. But it is a shitty thing to happen i feel for her family and friends.
 
Last edited:
Big Day Out teen dies of suspected drug overdose


Big Day Out crowds in Perth.

It's believed the girl took a number of ecstasy tablets while waiting in line to enter the festival. (ABC)

A 17-year-old girl has died from a suspected drug overdose after attending Perth's Big Day Out.

The girl collapsed at the music festival at the Claremont Showgrounds yesterday and was taken to a first aid post, before being transferred to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, where she died early this morning.

Friends of the teenager told police she had taken an ecstasy tablet before she arrived at the event.

They said she then took more tablets as she waited in line because she was frightened she would be searched by police.

Police are now investigating where the drugs came from.

Big Day Out promoter Ken Knight says the event has a strict anti-drugs policy and he has offered his condolences to the girl's family.

"[Our] heartfelt support to this young lady's friends and family, it's a complete tragedy," he said.

Police with sniffer dogs were positioned at the Claremont Showgrounds train station during the event and more than 70 people who attended the event have been charged with drug-related offences.

Steve Allsop from the National Drug Research Institute will not speculate on how the teenager died but says the heat could have been a factor, with Perth recording a maximum temperature of 36 degrees Celsius yesterday.

"Ecstasy itself can uncouple the body's ability to regulate its temperature," he said.

"If you've got a very hot day then of course what can happen is people's body temperature substantially increases, sometimes resulting in coma and sometimes in death."

Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett says his thoughts are with the girl's family.

"I'd extend my sympathy to her family and friends; [it's] a tragedy, sadly another drug tragedy, and the issue is the use of drugs," he said.

"This Government will be bringing in legislation relating to drugs and we will take a tough line on drugs for the simple reason to try and stop tragedies like that happening."
Click to expand...

What a dick. When will Barnett and others learn that it's the "tough line" that caused this to happen in the first place. Disgusting response! The issue is not simply the use of drugs, it's more to do with the policies designed to manage the problem - they don't work :X

I have some behind the scenes info which I'm not at liberty to post here, but I will say there's a lot of disquiet going on.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/02/2479932.htm
 
How sad.
And wrong.

I managed to survive Adelaide BDO and have a wicked day and night on a lighter note =).
 
Absolutely not , we need to stop blaming others and face fact everyone knows drugs have the potential of being harmful and fatal and we still do it there is only so far harm reduction can go. If i kill myself from drugs i blame myself and no one else
 
^ I understand where your coming from. Everytime I use I realise this could be the death of me but dude shes 17, when I was that age I would of probably did something just as stupid in that situation. With the money they spend on doing this bullshit, imagine the benefit to the public if they spent this money on unbiased education and harm minimisation.
 
Would she have died if the police weren't there?
Would she have if we had regulated drug control and quality?
 
Jakeperson , what would you offer as good drug control ? It doesnt matter what plan was in action people will take it to excess and over the edge. Even at 17 sure you are naive but you would have to be pretty stupid to not know that taking drugs is dangerous.
 
Its naive for anyone to think that people will ever stop taking drugs. The Government needs to rethink its strategy or this will happen again. And with police coming down even harder in the "war against drugs" users aren't not taking drugs, they're taking higher risks, such as this. Putting themselves in even more potentially life threatening situations which could be avoided altogether. This girl was backed into a corner by police. This war has come to a stalemate.

HR FTW
 
Jakeperson said:
Would she have died if the police weren't there?
Would she have if we had regulated drug control and quality?
Click to expand...

would she had died if she didnt choose to take the drugs?

cmon guys - its like blaming god for putting on such a hot day or the event coordinators for not having sufficient medical staff on board or perhaps the caterers for making water too expensive therefore she couldn't afford to hydrate!

why dont we blame bluelight for not doing a good enough job on getting the basics of harm minimisation across to our youth!
 
You can think that way but she overdosed as a result of the police presence being there. If they wernt there she wouldn't have triple dropped.

The police presence is causeing an increase in dangerous drug takeing and as a result someone has died. they wont be the last. People can and will do stupid and dangerous things and if we follow your logic that its only her fault and the police can continue with there dog programs then we will have a steady death count on our hands. It's not like they wernt warned this was going to happen.

The police arnt ment to chase cars that are speeding excessivly incase they crash. They are a risk to themselfs and others

So why is it ok for the police to chase a drug user too their deaths. There not at risk to anyone else.

In the eyes of the law the death of a drug user is acceptable. The death of a drug user is a number, and a powerful number that can be used to bring on harsher laws.

""This Government will be bringing in legislation relating to drugs and we will take a tough line on drugs for the simple reason to try and stop tragedies like that happening."

Anyway answer this.

If the police are doing something that results in people doing dangerous and reckless things, would you allow them to continue doing it?
 
back when we were going on schoolies, we had a group of people do a presentation for us, and basically they told us what to expect, the downs AND ups of drugs and such. Like rather then saying "oh dont do xtc it is extremely dangerous yada yada" they said "IF you do take pills, remember to stay hydrated. IF you do use syringes, make sure they are clean"

basically they figured that we werent going to stop taking drugs just cause they told us to, so they actually worked as a "harm-reduction"

exactly the same here, people arent going to stop taking drugs just because the police bring in the sniffers - or whatever. they need to accept that and yes, still abide by the law, but try make the priority to minimize harm rather then punish those.
 
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