Big Day Out revellers face drug crackdown
Posted 6 hours 32 minutes ago
Updated 3 hours 46 minutes ago
Police are warning music fans they will be continuing their crackdown on drugs on the second day of the Big Day Out festival in Sydney.
A total of 53 people were arrested at the event yesterday, mostly over drug-related offences.
Ambulance services treated up to 250 people for dehydration and alcohol intoxication.
The Commander of Operation Big Day Out, Superintendent Rod Smith, says police will be on the look out for people carrying drugs.
"We've given people fair warning that there will be a drug operation at the front of the entrance at the Big Day Out and it's a focus of ours," he said.
"If people are thinking of bringing drugs in, they are foolish. We are going to have just as many dogs, and if people think that they're going to be able to get the drugs in, they can think again because we will detect them."
With temperatures expected to top 40 degrees Celsius for the second day in a row, health authorities are warning people to be careful in the sun and limit their alcohol consumption.
David Morris from the New South Wales Ambulance Service says crews are preparing for a large number of patients again today.
Mother of ecstasy victim Gemma Thoms to face Big Day Out crowd
* Todd Cardy
* From: PerthNow
* January 22, 2010 6:26PM
THE mother of teenage ecstasy overdose victim Gemma Thoms, who died after the Big Day Out last year, will painfully return to the concert grounds next week to raise awareness of the risk of taking drugs.
Peta will stand at the main gate of the Claremont Showgrounds, one day before the first anniversary of her daughter's death, to hand out flyers in the hope others will not suffer the same fate.
Concert organisers have backed the courageous effort, promising to design and print a flyer that will include a photo of Gemma, warnings about drug use, and health information for every one of the near 40,000 expected to attend the sold-out music festival on Sunday week.
Big Day Out organiser Ken Knight, who met Peta today to discuss the plans, said he had also committed to creating a photographic memorial at the grounds to commemorate the anniversary of the 17-year-old's death.
Gemma collapsed during the festival last year after taking three ecstasy pills on the way in because she was frightened about police sniffer dogs catching her with drugs.
Her body temperature rose to 45C and she died in hospital within 12 hours.
Peta, who did not want her last name published, said she had made the difficult decision to attend the concert because it was something she felt she ``should do'' for her daughter.
``I am really nervous about being at the same place,'' Peta said.
``I am scared of people's reactions, I am hoping that my actions will make a difference - whether it be it might just let them think, be a bit more aware for the day - and I feel a lot of pain because it's very emotional but I feel like it is something that I should do.
``I need to do this to make people remember because young people just move on quickly especially when it is not directly related to them''.
In a draft flyer Peta created herself, the warnings include ``If you don't feel ok you're probably not'', ``Would you rather live your life or be buried in the ground'' and ``Have you read the ingredients on your pill today?''
``I want people to remember, remember what happened and to be aware that it can happen to anybody,'' Peta said.
``As much as this is hard on my daughter's best friend and friends that were there at the time, they later on regret they wish they had of stood up and done something or said something, been a bit tougher - that is what it comes down to.
``I am not saying she would have survived, but if she had been taken quickly to hospital it could have been okay.
``So many of them don't want to tell, because they are worried they will get caught.''
The flyers coincide with a campaign by St John Ambulance to encourage people to trust paramedics, in the hope it will dispel the myth that they will inform police of drug-use, and Big Day Out's own warnings about drug or alcohol experimentation.
The bloke who overdosed at BDO was a GHB overdose as was just said on ten news ...
Another GHB overdose ...
when will people learn this stuff is unpredictable and dangerous in the hands of people who don't understand it ...
Paramedics treat 1,600 at Big Day Out
Posted 5 hours 25 minutes ago
Updated 3 hours 49 minutes ago
The New South Wales Ambulance Service says about 1,600 people needed treatment during the two-day Big Day Out music festival in Sydney.
Ambulance officers took 36 people to hospital including a 27-year-old man who had overdosed on illegal drugs.
He was in a critical condition but a hospital spokeswoman says he has since left the hospital.
Police say more than 380 arrests were made.
They say 12 people were charged with supplying drugs at the festival and another 104 people were allegedly caught with drugs in their possession.
Paramedic David Morris says with the temperature in Sydney reaching into the 40s yesterday heat played a big part in those requiring treatment.
"People were treated for a variety of different things anywhere from, unfortunately, spinal injuries to having cuts and abrasions," he said.
"A lot of alcohol intoxication and, unfortunately, drug overdose.
"It was a big task but everyone who needed help got help. Thankfully there was only a few patients who were quite ill out of the thousands that turned up."
Yesterday's event marked the festival's 100th show.
I'd have to agree with this statement. Australia is developing into a nation that hates law enforcement. Not to say that their tactics don't scare people though.
