Drug related death; Brisbane

[hoptis]

Drugged Easter eggs claim
Richard Finnila
April 17, 2006

POLICE are investigating claims that Easter eggs laced with drugs were handed out at a Brisbane rave on Saturday night at which one person died and another was left seriously ill.

A 25-year-old man from Carseldine on Brisbane's northside died in the Royal Brisbane Hospital from a suspected drug overdose shortly after midnight.

About the same time, paramedics transported another man, 20, suffering from nausea after eating an Easter egg he believed had been tampered with.

Authorities were last night trying to contact the deceased man's parents in New Zealand.

Detectives seized a small sample of the Easter eggs for analysis, but preliminary tests have shown no traces of any foreign substances.

The rave party, which was organised by Mayhem Productions, was held at the RNA Showgrounds between 8pm Saturday and 5am Sunday morning.

The organisers advertised the party on the internet as being "possibly our biggest event yet".

"For the first time ever, Mayhem comes early this year, with free Easter eggs, insane tunes and a world class line up of the best acts to ever grace your ears," the Mayhem website stated.

Rave organiser Harley Jones refused to comment to The Courier-Mail when contacted about the incidents.

"We've got nothing to say," he said, before hanging up.

It is understood Mr Jones flew to Sydney only hours after the party to organise another rave scheduled for last night.

Police were only advised of the event when they were called to attend the incident.

RNA's acting CEO Brendan Christou said the organisers were not required to inform police about the rave as the party did not have a liquor license and did not expect more than 2000 people.

He said the death was an isolated incident.

"It's a tragic incident," he said.

Police are not treating the death as suspicious at this stage. Detectives are awaiting the results of a toxicology report and autopsy.

From Courier-Mail

 

[zaineaol.nu]

well that clears up the rumour of bad easter eggs...

I highly doubt the mayhem crew would be stupid enough to hand out dodgy easter eggs - letalone not tell people they were taking drugs.

 

[Yossarian_is_sane]

Also - i recently spoke to someone who knew him personally.

She informed me that he'd only taken a white mitsubishi tablet - and some sambuca.

She also told me that he'd been sick for the previous week leading up the the event - which leads me to suggest possibly he was on some kind of MDMA potentiating medication (ie: dxm from a cough syrup)?

Or possibly a mild fever combined with MDMA could cause some kind of heart trouble.

 

[zaineaol.nu]

^cause of death is all just speculation at this point - but at least i have some pointers as to the reason he died.

I'm just interested - its a tragedy for all involved.

 

[INO]

Why is this thread called "Drug related death"?

Are you ppl phsycics that can see into the future and know the reaults of the autopsy b4 its done?

Crinklecut you are about the most sensible and intelligent person I have ever seen post something on a forum, you speak very highly of some good friends and I would love to buy you a beer sometime!

Anyone passing away for any reason is a tragedy and my prayers for this mans friends and family.

 

[drink drank drunk]

p_d; mayhem events are always really well looked after when it comes to harm reduction. i've never seen ravesafe (or similar) people at them, and i think that might be somewhere they can improve, but the security that that employ and the response of the organisers to issues has always been very good. from what i've heard the guy just fell over and started going nuts, so as you said, i dont think RS could have done much anyway.. and the venue is literally within sight of the the RBWH hospital, so it must have been a pretty nasty reaction/overdose/whatever that he had.

i look forward to the info from the tox report being released so that all the speculation can end.

 

[INO]

Any situation like this is a promoter’s worst nightmare, and is undoubtedly devastating to the family and friends of the deceased man. Can we stop the potential for a G overdose, or rare serious reaction to MDMA, etc? Probably not completely, however, risk review often influences regulation change, so there will certainly be some effort made. The area of event permits will also surely be looked at.

The question of why RaveSafe wasn't there has already been raised by authorities. Mayhem promoters had been approached several times in the past, but RS never received a reply. A Team Leader even discussed the issue with one of the promoters late last year, so they had RS contact details.

I'm not saying for a moment this would have definitely been avoided had a team attended. Some people will always overdo it regardless, and in all fairness, having not personally attended a Mayhem event, I can’t comment on whether the organisers had a sufficient safety net policy in place. Most people seem to feel they did, as aside from above comments of support, I've also heard glowing reports from several people who’ve attended past events.

There needs to be emphasis placed on getting major promoters together with harm reduction groups, medics and security to formulate improved event safety protocols. It would also require addressing peer issues, which will always be confronting – and which has been the biggest problem to date in getting people together on these issues. Such a feat would however demonstrate beyond doubt that event promoters are serious about the wellbeing of their customers, and could contribute greatly to avoiding future catastrophies and certainly aid in preserving the industry.

Rave safe don't attend the Mayhem parties because they have Emergency First Aid on site intead. The guys from EFA are fully trained and qualified paramedics and have onsite all equip to run a full first aid room, I have always found these guys very kind caring and professional and very active in providing a safe enviroment. On that note it should be said that if at any point in time that anyone doesn't like the way they are feeling at one of these events GO and see these guys. They are very non judgemental and are only interested in making sure you are ok, they've assured me in the past that they do not pass any info on to anyone else so don"t be scared to go see them. Thats what they are there for!

 

[zaineaol.nu]

Why is this thread called "Drug related death"?

Are you ppl phsycics that can see into the future and know the reaults of the autopsy b4 its done?

Crinklecut you are about the most sensible and intelligent person I have ever seen post something on a forum, you speak very highly of some good friends and I would love to buy you a beer sometime!

Anyone passing away for any reason is a tragedy and my prayers for this mans friends and family.

It's been labeled a drug related death purely because he was on drugs - although it may not be the exact cause - it's a contributing and/or demonised factor of this mans death.

Had he not have been on drugs (which from hearing first hand from one of his friends) he was - then it wouldn't be labeled as such.

get a grip man, before you start making stupid comments like that - when it's completely logical to give it that label.

INO - Regardless of the paramedics/first aid presence - thats not harm reduction - thats just being smart and duty of care. If groups like enlighten and Ravesafe were involved perhaps education would be provided more than 'you don't know what it'll do to you' scare tactic bullshit. We can't rule out that drugs caused this guys death - we can't rule out that perhaps it was a combination of a few drugs - nothing is certain - the fact is he's dead - and IMO this may well have been preventable.

 

[INO]

Had he not have been on drugs (which from hearing first hand from one of his friends) he was - then it wouldn't be labeled as such.

.

I hope that you are wrong because I happened to be in the vacinity of the first aid room when this went down and the promoters and the paramedics asked ALL his friends repeatedly what he had taken while they were working on him. They all said that he hadn't taken anything at all and that he had only been drinking all day at the races so maybe you are right, maybe this may have been prevented if this so called friend of his had the balls to tell the paramedics what they should be treating for.

 

[zaineaol.nu]

[EDIT: Comment removed. See my post below. hoptis]

Well then if thats the case the death is on their shoulders - weak pricks

 

[tiptop]

I hope that you are wrong because I happened to be in the vacinity of the first aid room when this went down and the promoters and the paramedics asked ALL his friends repeatedly what he had taken while they were working on him. They all said that he hadn't taken anything at all and that he had only been drinking all day at the races so maybe you are right, maybe this may have been prevented if this so called friend of his had the balls to tell the paramedics what they should be treating for.

some people are screwed in the head

 

[lostNfound]

I hope that you are wrong because I happened to be in the vacinity of the first aid room when this went down and the promoters and the paramedics asked ALL his friends repeatedly what he had taken while they were working on him. They all said that he hadn't taken anything at all and that he had only been drinking all day at the races so maybe you are right, maybe this may have been prevented if this so called friend of his had the balls to tell the paramedics what they should be treating for.

why do people always forget that alcohol is a drug!

maybe it was dehydration, who knows. I dont, so ill stop speculating.

 

[Raver_zell]

[EDIT: Comment removed. See my post below. hoptis]

Well then if thats the case the death is on their shoulders - weak pricks

Comments like these are just cruel.

I am not sure who your "informant" is but this information is completely inaccurate.

It would be appreciated that no further comments are made on the issue out of respect for the person's family and close friends. This has been a traumatic incident and it does not need to be made more difficult because of unsubstantiated information being posted all over the internet.

The media is feeding off the rumours and misguided so called "information" that people are so blatently and disrespectfully posting up.

The incident may have been caused by a pre existing health condition however you are all jumping to the conclusing that it was drug related.

His brother is reviewing these forums every few minutes to see what is posted up next, so please have some consideration for him.

Again, please keep the rumours and unsuntantiated information to yourselves.

Thanks.

 

[Raver_zell]

I hope that you are wrong because I happened to be in the vacinity of the first aid room when this went down and the promoters and the paramedics asked ALL his friends repeatedly what he had taken while they were working on him. They all said that he hadn't taken anything at all and that he had only been drinking all day at the races so maybe you are right, maybe this may have been prevented if this so called friend of his had the balls to tell the paramedics what they should be treating for.

I can assure you that the friend you are talking about did not give any false information to the paramedics. Paramedics were informed to their best ability of the circumstances. No known information was witheld from them.

Again, comments like this are not needed.

 

[hoptis]

Good points.

Speculation ends here, the media reports quite clearly say "suspected overdose".

Until further information comes to light, it doesn't do anyone any good to guess what he might or might not have taken or to relay second-hand information that could be unreliable.

 

[INO]

Good points.

Speculation ends here, the media reports quite clearly say "suspected overdose".

Until further information comes to light, it doesn't do anyone any good to guess what he might or might not have taken or to relay second-hand information that could be unreliable.

Thank you! I believe that this is what I was trying to say with my first post.

So far the only thing the media and anyone else associating drugs to this tragedy has achieved is to tarnish a reputation of a man and has family that doesn't deserve it.

Again as I have said my prayers and thoughts are for his family and friends, I can only imagine what you all are going through and the last thing that you need is to have to deal with this crap being thrown into it aswell. my condolances!

 

[zaineaol.nu]

^Well the information i have is only coming from one of this guy's close friends - i don't need to name names - and nothing i'm saying should be marked as offsenive or cruel - it's about as close to the truth as we're gunn get at this point in time - imo.

INO: No one here is trying to demonise his use of drugs - this is a fukn drug forum - we're all druggos (well a large majority of us). I've just put in my 2c as to why he may have died.

In the circumstance that his friends didn't tell the first aid/paramedics he was on drugs (if infact he was) - they should not go blameless in this death - which makes for a really sad factor in this.

How could one sleep at night knowing that they could have prevented they death of their friend - if only they didnt act ilike morons. - as i said before - if this is infact the case.

 

[Raver_zell]

Could you please PM me the name of the person who is supposedly providing you with this inaccurate information. I am a close friend to the person that passed and I know a lot more than anyone here posting “hearsay” in this thread and what you are saying is far from the truth, zaineaol.nu. I would like to put a stop to the rumours and inaccurate information being posted on the forums so I would appreciate it if you could supply me with their name. If they were a close friend of his, then I will know them.

Again, no “known” information was withheld from the paramedics during this ordeal so please, and I beg you, please refrain from making such comments as you have previously in respect to placing blame on his friends.

This has been a traumatic tragedy. Your comments are just digging the knife deeper and deeper.

Please have the above posts removed as it is false information being fed to the media.

 

[zaineaol.nu]

Could you please PM me the name of the person who is supposedly providing you with this inaccurate information. I am a close friend to the person that passed and I know a lot more than anyone here posting “hearsay” in this thread and what you are saying is far from the truth, zaineaol.nu. I would like to put a stop to the rumours and inaccurate information being posted on the forums so I would appreciate it if you could supply me with their name. If they were a close friend of his, then I will know them.

Again, no “known” information was withheld from the paramedics during this ordeal so please, and I beg you, please refrain from making such comments as you have previously in respect to placing blame on his friends.

This has been a traumatic tragedy. Your comments are just digging the knife deeper and deeper.

Please have the above posts removed as it is false information being fed to the media.

Ummm... Well - From what i was told, as this chick SCREAMED at me about her friend dying, he had done all the same gear as 'you' guys - i won't name names.

I'm not blaming you guys - i made it clear - as i said - if it was the case - that you guys are to blame - never said IT WAS THE CASE.

You need to chill out - mourn some place else - this forum is for discussion - its an open forum - and everyone is entitled to their opinions - whatever they may be. My condolences go out to you guys - but i'm just someone who saw it, someone who's interested as to why people are dying at raves. In all fairness - it would be a little TOO coincidental if he died at a rave straight - don't you think?

[EDIT: Not necessary. hoptis]

That said mate - i wish you the best - and hope that you get through this well.

PS
Fuck The Media.

 

[NME]

Hi Zaineaol.

Im one of the deceased's friends. Not one that thinks this and thinks that. But one that is organising music for his funeral, and one that cares a hell of a lot about him. I respect that everyone wants to know information as this tragedy has occured in our backyard - at an annual rave which we've attended every year as a religion. However; some points in your post need to be rectified.

- He was rarely a drug user, to the point where myself and others would bag him for drinking
- He went to raves for the music as he could dance all night and loved the people
- If you mix a lot of alcohol + Dehydration + 180bpm dancing + Medical Complications, it can very well lead to tragedy

All the information will be out and about soon enough. Toxscreen details will not be out for another 10 days. Easter egg theory has squashed as tests came back negative 4 times in a row.

All I want to say now, is that He was honestly one of the finest people in this life. And i dont mean it like everyone else says it. He was seriously one of the best people on this planet, kind, generous, funny, and he was a caring boyfriend to his partner. Those that knew him well are having a hard time coming to grips with his passing, and I hope this thread respects his family's wishes not to continue such speculation

Thankyou

_NME //