Man who died at Rainbow Serpent drank amyl nitrate 'poppers', sources say

[spacejunk]

The 22-year-old man that died at the Rainbow Serpent music festival had drunk amyl nitrate, also known as poppers, Hack understands.

Authorities said the man was in cardiac arrest before he died on Saturday night, at the five-day trance festival in Lexton, north-west of Ballarat.

Amyl is not usually drunk, it's more commonly inhaled for a rush or to enhance sex. While it's illegal to sell as an inhalant, it's often sold in sex shops as DVD or leather cleaner.

The clinical director of St Vincent's Hospital's Alcohol and Drug Service, Nadine Ezard, says it is more dangerous when drunk.

"People [inhale] it in recreational settings because it makes you feel a bit good for a short period of time," she said.

"Mostly people don't run into really severe problems like the kind that make people come to emergency departments.

"If people do something like drink a lot of it, it can have a really toxic effect.

It means that the oxygen that's in your blood has a hard time getting into the tissue, so people don't get enough oxygen."
Festival management declined to comment on the man's cause of death. But, in a statement, Rainbow Serpent organiser Tim Harvey offered his condolences to the man's family and friends.

"The thoughts of all our staff and volunteers are with them during this extremely difficult time. Rainbow Serpent considers the safety of patrons a priority and we will continue to cooperate with authorities to determine exactly what happened in this situation."

While Victoria Police wouldn't confirm that drugs were involved, Superintendent Andrew Allen did link organised crime to the death.

"We believe that organised criminals are infiltrating this event to prey on young people and as a consequence we've seen the death of a 22-year-old man," he said.

Superintendent Allen slammed the event, citing "completely unacceptable" behaviour including:

2 sexual assaults;
6 incidents of combined drug trafficking and possession;
Numerous assaults including on a police officer;
1 drunk driver; and,
17 drug driving offences, with more expected.
"How is it that we can continue with such events?," he asked.

This isn't the first time someone has died at Rainbow Serpent. In 2012, 34-year-old Daniel Buccianti died after taking what he thought was acid.

This year his mother, who has since become an outspoken supporter of pill testing, was at the festival.

The crowd at Groovin' The Moo
'We will do pill testing at a music festival this summer'

In August, pill testing advocates said they would offer break the law this summer.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale, who also attended, told Hack he wants to see pill testing at music festivals.

"How is it that a government that has access to a tool, an intervention, that could save lives, is withholding that from people?"

Harm reduction advocate Dr Stephen Bright, who was volunteering at Rainbow Serpent, said most punters enjoyed the festival without a problem.

"I would say from my experience at the festival most people were extremely well behaved," he said.

"What I did notice was an increased focus on harm reduction and an increased focus on telling people who were taking drugs to test their drugs."

From;
http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/progr...runk-amyl-nitrite-poppers-sources-say/8227740


I only just read about this, and i'm pretty horrified.
Really puts the need for drug education and other harm reduction programs (especially drug testing).
Rainbow Serpent sounds like it's become some kind of very dark shadow of its former self.

As for the guy who died - just tragic. My thoughts go out to his friends and family.

 

[Mysterie]

what a horrific accident, only way i can conceive of this happening is the guy was super out of it and thought the vial was a dose of acid or something.

 

[spacejunk]

I was thinking they may have thought it was G?

 

[hotgirls.jpg.exe]

If he did intentionally drink it looking to get super fucked up, it's as clear an example as you could think of as to why proper drug education/harm reduction programs are needed. It's hard to imagine you wouldn't notice that it was amyl though I mean...the smell. Wonder if this will cause any tightening up of laws that allow it to be sold at all.

As for this nonsense, do they all go to the same hyperbole classes or what

Superintendent Andrew Allen did link organised crime to the death.
"We believe that organised criminals are infiltrating this event to prey on young people and as a consequence we've seen the death of a 22-year-old man," he said.

 

[spacejunk]

Yeah, the way i read that is that it seems like a really patronising way of saying "hard" drugs - like meth (?) are being used at Rainbow Serpent.
Maybe? Or the old, old news that it's just a drug party these days, and attracts a very different clientelle to what it used to.

But for all i know, it could be true - and "organised criminals" (as opposed to disorganised criminals?) have "infiltrated" the event.

 

[Iodjini_dk]

Tragic indeed. My thoughts go out to the poor guys relatives - it must be unbearable losing your son/brother at that age.

Yet I can help thinking sometimes; what are people thinking?
I mean, drinking poppers? The smell alone would prevent me from ever drinking poppers. But I think that he probably also did it intentionally. I know its a very old saying that "things used to be different back in the day". But I feel during the past 10-15 years or so that the way people use their drugs has become more extreme. People do more crazy combinations and snort all sorts of super potent research chemicals instead putting them in a gel cap. Am I the only one with this impression or have things just always been like this?

 

[hotgirls.jpg.exe]

Kids these days!

No but really the RC scene pretty radically changed things. Unstudied, hyper potent, often dangerous chemicals available in bulk at a low price. With poor quality control in a lot of cases. When you combine the inherent recklessness of youth and the fact that it was a given that this shit would start being misrepresented to the unsuspecting punters it was being sold to, it's recipe for total disaster. I think the whole NBOMe thing that's evolved over the last few years really shows that. Cannabinoids too. And all the fentanyl analogues.

Of course it should go without saying that this is a direct result of drug prohibition. Ya happy now Nixon?

 

[Bella Figura]

This is so extreme it's saddening how uninformed people are.

 

[consumer]

Friends who attended said it has just degenerated into a drug fest with lots of kids on meth and pills. My friends wont attend again they said.

 

[One Thousand Words]

RIP Australian Doof scene.

 

[consumer]

RIP Australian Doof scene.

Pretty much OTW.