NEWS: The Age - 28/12/09 'Drug cocktail blamed for young Dan's death'

[hoptis]

Drug cocktail blamed for young Dan's death
December 28, 2009 - 11:37AM

Daniel Hall ... took a bad batch of drugs.

A young Australian musician who died in a Hong Kong hotel had taken a lethal drug cocktail he bought from a doorman at a nearby nightclub, according to a Hong Kong media report.

Daniel Hall, 21, and a fellow member of the Western Australian Youth Orchestra, Evan Williams, snorted a mixture of cocaine, ketamine and opiates in their room early on December 19, Hong Kong's Sunday Morning Post reported.

The report said the pair were believed to have bought the drugs from a nightclub doorman who gave them the impression they were buying only cocaine.

"Evan went into Dan's room, and we believe at some stage earlier the men bought some white powder that they snorted in the room," Ben Burgess, the orchestra's chief executive, told the newspaper.

"Toxicology (tests) revealed it was a bad batch that contained a number of illicit drugs that were considered quite pure... a mix of cocaine, horse tranquilliser - ketamine. They did a test for opiates, there's obviously heroin or morphine in some form within it as well."

The drugs, some of which were found by police in a package on a bedside table, left Hall dead and Williams fighting for his life in hospital. Williams has since recovered and is now with his family in Perth, the report said.

A spokesman for the police refused to confirm the report.

"Preliminary findings of our post-mortem examination show there is no injury on the body of the deceased. We need to await the results of our further investigation to determine the cause of his death," the spokesman told AFP.

Hall, an oboe player, and Williams, a trombonist, had been on tour with the orchestra for a series of concerts in Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau.

The rest of the tour was cancelled and all 75 musicians have returned to Perth, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

AFP

 

[Jakeperson]

"Toxicology (tests) revealed it was a bad batch that contained a number of illicit drugs that were considered quite pure... a mix of cocaine, horse tranquilliser - ketamine. They did a test for opiates, there's obviously heroin or morphine in some form within it as well."

Toxicology tests usually refer to the ones taken from the victims, am I right?

Have they tested the powder to see if it actually had all of these in it? A lot more likely that they bought them separately and just took them all together.

 

[psytaco]

^ I'd say they would have done this. It seems like a pretty straight forward way to determine how they would die.

Drugs in Asia are dicey. Apart from the obvious legal complications that are far more severe than our own; purity and adulterants are a big concern.

In Vietnam and Cambodia i was sometimes offered cocaine from people on the street, at similiar prices to what heroin is there. It is not uncommon in these countries for heroin to be passed off as cocaine to unsuspecting tourists. Its an overdose waiting to happen.

Further, 'ecstacy' is often just yabba pills (methamphetamine + other adulterants). With drugs like methamphetamine, opium and heroin produced and exported heavily in Asia, one has to be careful that they are not getting these drugs instead of something else.

I'm not too sure on the drug situation in Hong Kong however.

 

[Jaza]

I have a friend who went to China in the last year and was given K thinking it was Cocaine. The story that ensues, whilst partly hilarious, is also extremely scary when you consider what COULD have happened. If it can happen to my (quite street smart) mate, it can happen to anyone. It wouldn't surprise me if they did get both drugs under the impression it was all coke.

Alternatively they could have just been morons who died a sad death. Either way - sad story.

 

[the_ketaman]

And K and coke could look relatively similar. I know K is really common in Asian countries as well as opiates quite obviously, I dont know about cocaine though so you really can never be too careful whe buying drugs in a country that isnt home, well at least more careful than you normally would at home.

This guy must have snorted massive lines though unless there was some fentanyl or the heroin was ridiculously pure, I dont understand how his happened, I wonder what it was that put him over the edge.

 

[Jabberwocky]

"Toxicology (tests) revealed it was a bad batch that contained a number of illicit drugs that were considered quite pure... a mix of cocaine, horse tranquilliser - ketamine. They did a test for opiates, there's obviously heroin or morphine in some form within it as well."

so if they tested, what were the results8) nevermind, i understand the statement now.

V youre right crankinit, tragic regardless

 

[Crankinit]

This guy must have snorted massive lines though unless there was some fentanyl or the heroin was ridiculously pure, I dont understand how his happened, I wonder what it was that put him over the edge.

K is a partial CNS depressant isn't it? Combined with the opiates, it could lead to respiratory arrest. Especially if they were taking cocaine at the same time. Coke keeps them stimulated so they do higher doses of the opiate, then the coke wears off and they pass out. The same problem that occurs with speedballing (killing famous people since 1959!)

Tragic regardless :/

 

[hyroller]

Yeah - my guess would be fentanyl, if we're talking lethal doses of a drug...

without any further toxicology info, it's hard to say what did it. a coke/k combination alone I would find very unlikely to cause death, generally speaking.

 

[drug_mentor]

Strange for these 3 drugs to be mixed together, I guess thats what happens when you score off randoms you never know what you will get. It is odd that they describe the drugs as pure when its obvious that they were adulterated.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Yeah - my guess would be fentanyl, if we're talking lethal doses of a drug...

without any further toxicology info, it's hard to say what did it. a coke/k combination alone I would find very unlikely to cause death, generally speaking.

i think the chances of it being fentanyl are pretty low, it's likely to be heroin. if there were another outbreak of fentanyl laced gear OD's would be more prominent.

you only have to look at the publicity of celebreties who've gone to the infamous speedball of coke/heroin to realise how dangerous the combination can be. coke and heroin and a non-tolerant user = recipe for disaster.

 

[phase_dancer]

Toxicology tests usually refer to the ones taken from the victims, am I right?

From wiki

Forensic toxicology is the use of toxicology and other disciplines such as analytical chemistry, pharmacology and clinical chemistry to aid medicolegal investigation of death, poisoning, and drug use. The primary concern for forensic toxicology is not the legal outcome of the toxicological investigation, but rather the technology and techniques for obtaining and interpreting the results. A toxicological analysis can be done to various kinds of samples.

A forensic toxicologist must consider the context of an investigation, in particular any physical symptoms recorded, and any evidence collected at a crime scene that may narrow the search, such as pill bottles, powders, trace residue, and any available chemicals. Provided with this information and samples with which to work, the forensic toxicologist must determine which toxic substances are present, in what concentrations, and the probable effect of those chemicals on the person.

 

[Jakeperson]

And here I was thinking you could learn every thing straight outta one of your posts.


I remembered you talking about a toxicology report over a death a while ago, so took a guess haha.

 

[drug_FUCKED]

so if they tested, what were the results8) nevermind, i understand the statement now.

V youre right crankinit, tragic regardless

True that hope that dealer gets whats cumming to him.
That kinda combo is like a hot shot. knock u out, spastic from the k and all that stress on the heart.

Strange for these 3 drugs to be mixed together, I guess thats what happens when you score off randoms you never know what you will get. It is odd that they describe the drugs as pure when its obvious that they were adulterated.

Sounds rare but i dont buy off randoms in asia.

And here I was thinking you could learn every thing straight outta one of your posts.


I remembered you talking about a toxicology report over a death a while ago, so took a guess haha.

If you could learn it all from one person phase would be ya best chance a true BL assest to say the least and HR assest to oz.

Yeah - my guess would be fentanyl, if we're talking lethal doses of a drug...

without any further toxicology info, it's hard to say what did it. a coke/k combination alone I would find very unlikely to cause death, generally speaking.

you would be lucky to get fentanyl or maybe more unlucky. I heard about similar drugs to fentanyl and analogs of it found in H around oz which have killed many H users.

Just tragic that someone cut coke with such bad things. I thought it was fucked peopel were cutting coke with meth and dex-amphets was bad enough or some RC 'caine. but this is just murder!

 

[Blanketlol]

oh! I was actually just talking about this with a few people..
One who's brother was a part of the orchestra that was touring
She said that her brother told her that this was quite strange as dan etc were not into drugs at all....they were found by a hotel housekeeper in the early hours of the morning........
they thought that it was an attempted mugging gone wrong
this obviously contradicts what i just read in the news report? but how accurate are they really.....