lil angel15
Bluelight Crew
Amnesty drug bins will be provided at music festivals in West Australia, following the death of Gemma Thoms
February 07, 2009
AMNESTY drug bins will be installed outside West Australian rock concerts, starting with the Rock It music festival next month, following public outcry over the death of a 17-year-old girl who swallowed ecstasy tablets in a panic to avoid detection.
Apprentice hairdresser Gemma Thoms, 17, "cooked from the inside" after taking three ecstasy tablets before entering the Big Day Out at Claremont Showgrounds on Sunday. She took two of the tablets in a panic before entering the festival after worrying police sniffer dogs would detect the drugs.
Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan told The Weekend Australian yesterday he would act on a talkback caller's suggestion to erect "amnesty bins" at similar events, so that festival-goers could get rid of drugs without being prosecuted.
Mr O'Callaghan said he believed Western Australia would be the first state in the nation to implement the bins, which would be introduced in March at the Rock It music festival in Joondalup, in Perth's north.
Mr O'Callaghan, who sings and plays guitar in a pub band called The Filth and is no stranger to rock crowds, couldn't hide his emotions.
"It's an absolute tragedy. She could have dropped them on the ground and even if she had been caught, the most she could have expected was a juvenile caution," Mr O'Callaghan said.
Gemma was a happy and, by all accounts, good-hearted teenager from Perth's Hills, who was thrilled about attending the Big Day Out. Her mother, Peta, bought her a ticket for her birthday in November.
Peta, who does not want her last name published, told the Seven Network: "She reached through the car and gave me a kiss and said, 'I love you, Mum', and I said, 'I love you too, be careful' and she said, 'Don't worry, everything will be fine'."
Peta had every reason to worry. Her daughter was minutes away from swallowing the two ecstasy pills she had in her pocket. It is unknown whether the tablets were for her or her friends.
Gemma had three ecstasy tablets in her system and her friend Cas two. Gemma danced and lapped up the atmosphere and music, but her body temperature was rising steadily from the effect of the drug and the 36C heat.
Shaking and teeth chattering, it wasn't long before Gemma came to the notice of security guards who took her to a first aid post.
She told the St John Ambulance volunteers that she had taken just one dexamphetamine. She was assessed, given water and allowed to leave after being observed for 25 minutes.
The actions of the volunteers have outraged Gemma's stepfather, Paul, a trained paramedic. He is angry that the volunteers did not refer her for proper treatment.
But St John said the volunteers did the right thing and could not have known how many pills Gemma had taken.
The girls' day was further interrupted when Cas was sick and vomited, a known side effect of ecstasy.
Later, quickly dehydrating in the hot sun and with her heart rate dangerously increasing, Gemma went on one of the festival's rides.
About 2.30pm, less than three hours after arriving, she collapsed when her body could no longer cope with the toxic chemicals circulating within it.
Gemma was rushed to hospital but had no chance of survival, according to St John medical director and emergency medicine specialist Garry Wilkes.
"Having paramedics there would have made no difference," he said.
Dr Wilkes said that once the chemicals in the drug had reacted with the body's cells, a cycle began that caused Gemma to heat from the inside, begin to have fits, collapse and lose consciousness.
"Every organ in the body then fails and you're unsaveable," he said.
As Peta later said: "She was cooking, she cooked from the inside."
Perth's talkback radio was dominated by the tragedy this week as parents questioned whether such a calamity could happen to their children and debate raged over the role of the police at the music festival.
The Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia said the police should be ashamed by their "intentional fear tactics".
Mr O'Callaghan would not accept any responsibility for Gemma's death.
Premier Colin Barnett backed him all the way.
"We were there doing a job the community expects us to do," Mr O'Callaghan said.
He said the use of sniffer dogs was part of a harm-minimisation strategy to find drugs festival-goers intended to share with friends.
"One girl had 12 eccies stored in her hair," he said. "We've got no idea about how many of those drugs, if we hadn't have intercepted them, would have been shared with other kids.
"We make no apologies for doing that. We do not accept the blame for Gemma's death."
Mr O'Callaghan said if any good could emerge from the death, it was that the dangers of drug use could be heightened.
Drug educator Paul Dillon, director of Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia, said the current messages about the dangers of ecstasy were not getting through.
He said this was one of the reasons why ecstasy use had quadrupled since the late 1980s and was increasing at a time when most other drugs, such as cannabis, were on the decline.
Mr Dillon said the media only focused on ecstasy when someone had died from an overdose but these deaths were rare. While non-users would be scared off the drug from a message that it could kill, for users the message was not credible.
"All the education and messages that go out is that it will kill you," he said. "If that doesn't match up to your own experience, that message lacks credibility and, as a result, they don't listen."
Gemma's friends say she had taken drugs before but was far from a "druggie" and, like her family, are wishing she had been caught before she made the fatal decision to swallow the pills.
The Australian
February 07, 2009
AMNESTY drug bins will be installed outside West Australian rock concerts, starting with the Rock It music festival next month, following public outcry over the death of a 17-year-old girl who swallowed ecstasy tablets in a panic to avoid detection.
Apprentice hairdresser Gemma Thoms, 17, "cooked from the inside" after taking three ecstasy tablets before entering the Big Day Out at Claremont Showgrounds on Sunday. She took two of the tablets in a panic before entering the festival after worrying police sniffer dogs would detect the drugs.
Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan told The Weekend Australian yesterday he would act on a talkback caller's suggestion to erect "amnesty bins" at similar events, so that festival-goers could get rid of drugs without being prosecuted.
Mr O'Callaghan said he believed Western Australia would be the first state in the nation to implement the bins, which would be introduced in March at the Rock It music festival in Joondalup, in Perth's north.
Mr O'Callaghan, who sings and plays guitar in a pub band called The Filth and is no stranger to rock crowds, couldn't hide his emotions.
"It's an absolute tragedy. She could have dropped them on the ground and even if she had been caught, the most she could have expected was a juvenile caution," Mr O'Callaghan said.
Gemma was a happy and, by all accounts, good-hearted teenager from Perth's Hills, who was thrilled about attending the Big Day Out. Her mother, Peta, bought her a ticket for her birthday in November.
Peta, who does not want her last name published, told the Seven Network: "She reached through the car and gave me a kiss and said, 'I love you, Mum', and I said, 'I love you too, be careful' and she said, 'Don't worry, everything will be fine'."
Peta had every reason to worry. Her daughter was minutes away from swallowing the two ecstasy pills she had in her pocket. It is unknown whether the tablets were for her or her friends.
Gemma had three ecstasy tablets in her system and her friend Cas two. Gemma danced and lapped up the atmosphere and music, but her body temperature was rising steadily from the effect of the drug and the 36C heat.
Shaking and teeth chattering, it wasn't long before Gemma came to the notice of security guards who took her to a first aid post.
She told the St John Ambulance volunteers that she had taken just one dexamphetamine. She was assessed, given water and allowed to leave after being observed for 25 minutes.
The actions of the volunteers have outraged Gemma's stepfather, Paul, a trained paramedic. He is angry that the volunteers did not refer her for proper treatment.
But St John said the volunteers did the right thing and could not have known how many pills Gemma had taken.
The girls' day was further interrupted when Cas was sick and vomited, a known side effect of ecstasy.
Later, quickly dehydrating in the hot sun and with her heart rate dangerously increasing, Gemma went on one of the festival's rides.
About 2.30pm, less than three hours after arriving, she collapsed when her body could no longer cope with the toxic chemicals circulating within it.
Gemma was rushed to hospital but had no chance of survival, according to St John medical director and emergency medicine specialist Garry Wilkes.
"Having paramedics there would have made no difference," he said.
Dr Wilkes said that once the chemicals in the drug had reacted with the body's cells, a cycle began that caused Gemma to heat from the inside, begin to have fits, collapse and lose consciousness.
"Every organ in the body then fails and you're unsaveable," he said.
As Peta later said: "She was cooking, she cooked from the inside."
Perth's talkback radio was dominated by the tragedy this week as parents questioned whether such a calamity could happen to their children and debate raged over the role of the police at the music festival.
The Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia said the police should be ashamed by their "intentional fear tactics".
Mr O'Callaghan would not accept any responsibility for Gemma's death.
Premier Colin Barnett backed him all the way.
"We were there doing a job the community expects us to do," Mr O'Callaghan said.
He said the use of sniffer dogs was part of a harm-minimisation strategy to find drugs festival-goers intended to share with friends.
"One girl had 12 eccies stored in her hair," he said. "We've got no idea about how many of those drugs, if we hadn't have intercepted them, would have been shared with other kids.
"We make no apologies for doing that. We do not accept the blame for Gemma's death."
Mr O'Callaghan said if any good could emerge from the death, it was that the dangers of drug use could be heightened.
Drug educator Paul Dillon, director of Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia, said the current messages about the dangers of ecstasy were not getting through.
He said this was one of the reasons why ecstasy use had quadrupled since the late 1980s and was increasing at a time when most other drugs, such as cannabis, were on the decline.
Mr Dillon said the media only focused on ecstasy when someone had died from an overdose but these deaths were rare. While non-users would be scared off the drug from a message that it could kill, for users the message was not credible.
"All the education and messages that go out is that it will kill you," he said. "If that doesn't match up to your own experience, that message lacks credibility and, as a result, they don't listen."
Gemma's friends say she had taken drugs before but was far from a "druggie" and, like her family, are wishing she had been caught before she made the fatal decision to swallow the pills.
The Australian
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