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

Big Day teen dies of suspected overdose

Police are hunting the supplier of ecstasy to a 17-year-old girl who died of a suspected overdose after collapsing at the Big Day Out music festival.

The teenager died at a Perth hospital early on Monday after attending Sunday's event at Claremont Showgrounds.

Friends of the family told Fairfax Radio the teenager took three tablets after she saw police searching for drugs.

But police said on Monday the girl was dropped off at the showgrounds, which meant she would not have been subject to sniffer dog and police searches carried out at the Showgrounds train station.

A witness told Fairfax she saw the girl collapse near the amusement rides.

"One friend was with her almost trying to catch her as she fell down. She was holding her head and her eyes were rolling back and I think she (the friend) was saying something like 'Get up! Stand up'," the witness told Fairfax Radio.

Police said the girl died from a suspected drug overdose but would not elaborate further.

"I can't confirm what the cause of death is, that is a matter for the coroner to deal with in due course," Assistant Commissioner Dominic Staltari told journalists in Perth.

"Taking illegal drugs is dangerous, the clear message is, don't take (them)," he said.

Temperatures of up to 36 degrees may have affected people, the commissioner said.

"The weather conditions that we endured yesterday were difficult to say the least and it can have varying impacts on people," he said.

At the train station near the event, police made 59 arrests for possession of drugs, including four with intent to sell or supply.

They seized 129 tablets of MDMA or ecstasy, two grams of methylamphetamine, six grams of cannabis, 75 joints and 21 tablets of dexamphetamine.

Eighty-three liquor infringements were also issued.

Big Day Out organisers say they do not condone the use of drugs at the annual event, which it advertises as drug and alcohol free.

It was the first time in the festival's 17-year history that an incident like this has happened, they said on their website on Monday.
 
static_mind said:
If the police are doing something that results in people doing dangerous and reckless things, would you allow them to continue doing it?
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people who perform dangerous and reckless activities have the intent on doing this, a person doesn't see the police and do some randomly reckless thing!

She had the intent on taking drugs which created the situation, and unfortunately this situation turned into something that was dangerous and reckless!

Did she test those pills? Was she aware that someone with little tolerance may get into trouble for dumping 3 pills in one go? Did she know the effects of MDMA (assuming it was this!) and that it increases body temp! Was she aware of the signs of when something is not quite right!

We all must take responsibility of our own actions
 
I dont understand how you cant see this girl done it to herself , we have laws and believe it or not it keeps this country running , police are doing their jobs plain and simple. I hope the next time something shitty happens to you you dont go calling this so called "scum" your always bitching about.

In answer to your question , how would you react if the police caught a dealer trying to push off shitty dirty drugs that may have been potentially harmful , i know id be absolutely elated knowing they took it off the streets.
 
people who perform dangerous and reckless activities have the intent on doing this, a person doesn't see the police and do some randomly reckless thing!
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I beg to differ. I have spoken to many people at festivals who have taken all their drugs because of fear of run ins with the law. Many if not most of those people don't realise the danger they put themselves in, and most consider contact with the law to be something far more to worry about.

There needs to be a completely different approah to the problem IMO, one that focuses on a balanced and thorough education. I'll have more to say on this in the future.

How any of you can't see that the reason the girl took all the drugs was because of her perception of one danger over the other, I don't know. In no way does that action alone imply a person is reckless by nature.

I dont understand how you cant see this girl done it to herself , we have laws and believe it or not it keeps this country running , police are doing their jobs plain and simple. I hope the next time something shitty happens to you you dont go calling this so called "scum" your always bitching about.
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I'm not saying the police don't have a job to do at festivals and the like. It's the powers above that decide what the duties are. At the moment sniffer dogs are part of the team. That has been seen to have consequences. If any policy creates more problems than it solves it's a flawed policy, simple as that, and from a Health and Safety perspective, using sniffer dogs at festivals is flawed policy - in my opinion.
 
I think she died because of dropping all the beans at once before entry. Think about it, she is a girl and who knows how many she dropped. Females need less pills than males anyway.

Ive seen it happen before my very own eyes. A guy at a rave dropped 6 pills at once. Died few hours later. Dropped to the floor started shaking and his lips went purple and blue. Then someone picked him up and he was as stiff as a rock. A guy carried him like a pizza he was streched out. Was a very very horrible thing seeing all his sisters and friends sitting next to him crying. It made my evening shit.
 
They are awesomely good points but it comes down to two things in my mind and this is the last i have to say about it but i will continue to read what everyone else has to say.

Its easier to blame someone else rather than taking responsibility,

and its easy to say we need a better policy but no one here has yet to provide a sufficient answer as to what that policy should be (mainly because no matter what nothing will ever prove successful) and entail probably for the simple reason no policy will ever exist even with proper harm minimisation taught and educated thouroughly to our young society at school for the simple reason everyone thinks they are invincible until its too late.
 
i just think they should change their priorities. its a fesitval for gods sake, not a muder case or anything.

IMO if its her own fault then ok, but then how about they drop the sniffer dogs, let people 'be responsible for the own actions', and then when they OD - or whatever, its the same case - theyre responsible for their own actions, too!
 
phase_dancer said:
I beg to differ. I have spoken to many people at festivals who have taken all their drugs because of fear of run ins with the law. Many if not most of those people don't realise the danger they put themselves in, and most consider contact with the law to be something far more to worry about.
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firstly - respect to ya PD, I've been following ya for many many years!

But everyone knew that dogs were going to be there yet some chose to still attempt to bring drugs in to the venue! - some would say this is a reckless activity!

I am not saying that taking drugs was the reckless part but the part were someone is fully aware of the possible consequences associated with being caught, yet still involved themselves in this activity - that is reckless!

She created this string of events and yes it was unfortunate that the presence of the drug dog's influenced the path to a fatal ending, but to blame the police for her death! Don't buy it!

Drug control should be prevention and detection, with an emphasis on prevention! In this case the police performed the detection role but who performed the prevention role - there's the failure in the process right there!

I agree that having police ops with drug dogs alone is not smart - but they have been given their task in society and they are performing it!

I read they are looking for the dealer - what about focusing on her friends - and asking them why on earth would you let a good friend do that!

Blame can be pointed in many directions in this case - but when it comes down to it - she allowed herself to be put in a situation with little consideration on self preservation which unfortunately resulted in fatal consequences!

War on Drugs in Australia - no, they haven't got it right, nor has any other country in this world!
 
Even before this most unfortunate event, you have to wonder how much value the police were adding with the festival train station/entry dog routine.

It's usually around 100 people at the larger events, deemed "supply" usually under 5. Which means <b>at least</b> 95 % of those caught are end users. Gee fucking whiz, commendations for everyone!

I dislike what I consider to be an abuse of my civil liberties, but I also dislike such an egregious waste of my damn tax dollars, all for cheap political points that are quickly forgotten anyway.

They can spend big money on dog units at nightspots and festivals when all the murders and rapes have been solved, and not a day sooner IMO.
 
Look at it like this- lets say we are 17 we are going to the big day out, you have been looking forward to it for weeks even months, maybe it wasn't easy or cheap getting these pills but you managed to because you wanted to have a good day and enjoy your self like many of us do.

You get to the front gate and drop a pill in case you get busted thinking that should get you through the day should you have to ditch the rest of your stash when your confronted by the cops.

But when you are confronted by these big bad boys in blue with there big mean snarling dog you shit your self and out of FEAR created by these big mean law enforcers you make a rash decision.

Its just a damn shame that decision has resulted in a tragedy like this.

My thoughts go out to her friends and family.
 
Exactly, people are still going to be taking drugs in there despite the risks of getting caught.

So should we hunt them and have them eat all there drugs and die? People are going to do this as sure as water runs down hill. If 100people had died as a result of eating there drugs for fear of the dogs would you still consider the police faultless and to continue what there doing, If not why? If so, how is 100 preventable deaths ok or..how is 1 preventable death ok.

This is like haveing the police bust everyone when the ambo is called to an overdose. As a result people will stop calling ambos. Sure the druggie took the drugs but the death still preventable. Take away the fear and people will act a little more rational. Have a look at the FAQ for an over dose. Its based in the USA and its best advice is to leave the ODing person in a park. Glad things arnt like that here in Aus.
 
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
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And whats the point of doing this?

Did the supplier make her eat three pills at once NO, the extreme presence of Law Enforcement and the fear they create made her make the wrong choice.

I think until the real cause come forward no one can really be held accountable.

If its a bad batch blame the supplier.

If its a bad reaction then that's unfortunate.

But if its over consumption then i blame the Law Enforcement.
 
filenet said:
Blame can be pointed in many directions in this case - but when it comes down to it - she allowed herself to be put in a situation with little consideration on self preservation which unfortunately resulted in fatal consequences!
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Seventeen year-old's tend to do this, it's part of growing up and making mistakes. While I'm sure you were perfect and knew everything at that age, most kids don't.

They don't deserve to die for it.

Yes, we all need to take responsibility for our own actions, but as a society we need to take responsibility for the policies that fail our young people and cause their untimely deaths.

If you really believe we all should accept the consequences of our "fatal decisions", should you ever make one and need help, make sure you don't call an ambulance for yourself as you need to accept the consequences of what you've done.
 
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picadore said:
But when you are confronted by these big bad boys in blue with there big mean snarling dog you shit your self and out of FEAR created by these big mean law enforcers you make a rash decision.
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"big bad boys in blue" "mean snarling dogs" "fear created by these big mean law enforcers"

wow - which tabloid do you work for! :\

seriously, what happened to taking full responsibilities of ones actions - why is there a need to blame everyone else except ourselves!

Wheres the logic in "But the dogs made me take all my drugs at once, the drugs that I bought myself and intended to smuggle in to the event, knowing full well that it was illegal!


picadore said:
Its just a damn shame that decision has resulted in a tragedy like this.
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Yes you are right, a very big shame that her decision has resulted in a tragedy like this - well said
 
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hoptis said:
They don't deserve to die for it................If you really believe we all should accept the consequences of our "fatal decisions".....
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Um noo! I am simply disagreeing with everyone who is jumping up and down and directly blaming the police for the girls death!
 
Well they didn't advertise that there were going to be sniffer dogs at the event, this is the first summer they have done this too us here in perth, so if this was her first festival she would have been scared.

It is a real shame this happened, I feel sorry for all her family and friends who have lost her.

Sure it was stupid of her to take 3 at once, but like everyone has said here already, she was 17. Drug dogs don't work, who do they catch? The low end user who has 2 or so pills on them, wow that's really making a difference in the drug trade. How many pills would they have confiscated? 200? That is hardly a dent, a small time dealer would equal that. But as a result of this "raid" we have a 17 year old girl dead, are drugs that immoral?
 
^ Exactly. Police can be intimidating even to adults, let alone someone who for all we know has hardly ever dealt with the law or illegal substances before.
 
They try their best to be intimidating because they want to scare kids into confessing so they can bump up their quotia.

Not going to carry on because it's all already been said, simple fact is there's too much ignorance and fear, not enough education. These people need to be told how to handle their drugs instead of just told not to do them, and they need to not be put into situations where they're intimidated into taking dangerous doses.
 
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