A LEADING drugs charity has warned nightclub revellers about the dangers of mixing alcohol and ecstasy, after what police believe to be a rogue batch of the drug almost killed two people at the weekend.
In two separate incidents two men were taken to hospital after collapsing at Fabric nightclub in Farringdon.
An 18-year-old man was taken to hospital on Saturday, and remains in a stable condition; and a 23-year-old was taken ill on Monday, and is now in a critical but stable condition.
Detective Superintendent Adrian Usher, of Islington police, who is investigating the incidents, said a “potentially fatal batch” of the drug is circulating around London. “It would be highly unusual to have two serious incidents in one weekend,” he said.
“Users need to be aware that this is a potentially fatal batch that is out there. I strongly advise people to be cautious and if they have purchased any ecstasy recently to destroy it.
“We have arrested one of the people this week who supplied the drug, but we want to trace the supply chain as far as possible. We are trying to make sure there is no connection with incidents in London over the last two or three weeks, including a death in Lambeth.”
A man aged 22 has been arrested in connection with the second incident. He has been bailed to return to police on September 13.
But Gary Sutton, head of drug services at drugs charity Release, who are based in City Road, said: “When MDMA (ecstasy) first came out about 30 years ago, you hardly ever saw it in clubs with alcohol. But people mix them both regularly nowadays, and that’s actually a lot more dangerous.
“Alcohol dehydrates you even further, and affects the choices you make, so you may take more tablets than you otherwise would have.
“Clubs make money selling booze, and they like to put out this image that says ‘This is a drug-free club’, but it would probably be more sensible to put out a message saying that ‘This is actually quite dangerous, and if you’re going to do it then you need to be very aware that you shouldn’t be drinking too.’ They need to be far more honest, but of course they wouldn’t like to put up that sort of more realistic advertising because the bar profits come from the amount of booze they sell, and because they don’t like to advertise to police that they don’t have a zero-tolerance policy, because then it looks like they’re condoning drugs on their premises, which means they might not get a licence.
“The truth is people are going to do this stuff, and they need to be aware that it is dangerous alone, but mixed with other drugs, including alcohol, then they are putting themselves in very real, extreme danger, and there’s a much greater chance that things can go very wrong.”
In response, a Fabric nightclub spokesman said: “Fabric has always adopted a zero-tolerance drug policy. This weekend’s events are the subject of a police investigation and Fabric is, as always, cooperating with Islington police. Our thoughts are very much with the family and friends of those affected.”
Just image that a club with MDMA and milks shakes, but no booze.
