NEWS: Police hold talks on GHB

Police hold talks on GHB
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,8929053%5E1702,00.html
10mar04

POLICE today held talks with paramedics, doctors and the organisers of a Melbourne dance party where 10 people overdosed on the drug known as grievous bodily harm.

Ten people were taken to hospital after taking Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate (GHB) at the TwoTribes2004 dance party at the Rod Laver Arena on Monday morning.
Paramedics were repeatedly called to the dance party between 1am (AEDT) and 8am following reports people had collapsed after taking GHB.

Superintendent Mick Williams this afternoon discussed the night's events with representatives from the Melbourne Ambulance Service, The Alfred and St Vincent's hospitals and rave party promoter Future Entertainment.

He said those at the meeting agreed emergency services and venue operators and promoters needed to develop protocols for dance parties.

"The ambulance service said at a large event like that they'd like to have an ambulance on the scene," he said.

"Both The Alfred and St Vincent's said they would like some warning of the events as did the ambulance."

Spt Williams said there was also a need for community education about substance abuse.

A greater police presence at dance parties was also required, he said.

"Our focus would be targeting people dealing drugs," he said.

Spt Williams said the next step would be to meet with venue operators and promoters "to see if we can get agreement on protocols".

Firstly, we know we all hate it being called 'grievous bodily harm;, so please don't fill the thread saying how much you hate it being called that.

Secondly... Who are the head of Future Entertainment. They sound like complete fuckwits. Who wouldn't have ambulance crews or a significant police presence at such a large event... morons. they deserve to be shut down.

There were cops & paramedics wandering around Earthcore. The cops were having a grand 'ol time laughing and chatting with doofer. Fuck, they only had to look up to see people running around with balloons full of nitrous. They don't care if you're chopped off your head. just don't run around with bags of drugs throwing them at people.

But all in all, the organisers of TT all total noobs and i hope they lose their licence

Having known the owner of Future entertainment, and knowing that he is infact a very nice guy, I fail to see how stopping him from holding large events such as Two Tribes will stop uneducated people from ODing on G.

I didn't say that stopping him from holding large events would stop people from ODing on GHB, nor did i say he was a 'bad' guy...just stupid.

I think someone that holds a large event and does not uphold their responsibility to care for the people who visit his operation through onsite paramedics etc. shouldn't be allowed to continue doing what they do.

From here - NEWS: Herald Sun - Party Drug Puts 10 in Hospital - 08/03/04.

In their defense, they claim to have had a full medical team present...

Spt Williams said there was also a need for community education about substance abuse.

Click to expand...

He's dead right. Education, not brainwashing.

BigTrancer

With what apollo said, i retract my comment. But i still think they should have personally contacted a major nearby hospital so they could prepare.
All in the past now i guess.

What's the point in having emergency room doctors on site, if there is:
a) inadequate facilities to treat an overdose, necessitating transfer to a hospital and
b) no ambulance on site to get them there?

There's no point. That's my point. There needs to be a strategic plan of how these incidents are managed. Medevent as the providers of medical services should have notified ambulance services of the event.

Its easy to look back on issues like this with 20/20 vision.

Yes, RaveSafe should have been there.
Yes, hospitals should have been notified.
Yes, the organisers would have known that drug use would have been prolific at their event.

What wasnt to be known, however, is that there would be a number of 1,4b users who were unaware of the inherent risks involved; or simply didnt care.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It enables us to look back on mistakes that we have made in a new light - and make our best attempts to ensure that they are not repeated.

What hasnt been publicised is the fact that of the 10,000 ravers at Two Tribes, a LOT more than 10 of them were using 1,4b. The potential was there to have people dropping left, right and center.

10 people overdosing on 1,4b at an event of this magnitude doesnt bother me. What i find to be a worrying fact is that at a melbourne nightclub, which i used to frequent on a regular basis, there are often as many overdoses. What is the difference you ask?

Only 500 odd people attend this club on any given night.

Education is whats going to save lives, not shutting down events such as these which bring people of similar mind together.

God i hate the media.

A

Good to see that they appear to be talking about useful things. Yes, we are all going to be unhappy about increased police presence at events, however many events do already have a police presence that focussess on obvious dealing and leaves general punters alone and this does sound like what they are planning. Proper mediacl support should be MANDATORY for any large even - rave or not! Here in Qld all large events must have St. John's ambulance in attendance (sport, concerts, raves) and at raves we generally have a small but visible police presence. On-site police have never proved to be a problem in all my years of attendence. Those lurking outside have been much more troublesome.

The formulation of a full safety strategy can only be a good thing. And note the medical services attitutde - they don't see drug OD's as a waste of resources, but actually want to be involved so they can resource it properly. Hoorah!

*crosses fingers for something decent to come out of this mess*

Smiley

Its amazing how many people out there in society to not actually know what ghb,1,4b,gbl. How many instances where a person is overdosing on G and there are no immediate persons around them that will know how to deal with a GHB overdose, or for that matter even know whats going on? People are going to have to learn the facts and not recycled rubbish the media churns out and puts through the tabloids.

theres nothing wrong with cops at raves.

it makes the dealers a little bit more careful (this is a good thing ya?) and the customers will buy up in preperation for the event. how many ppl are relying on buying their bickies at the venue these days anyway? its just not smart.

and i dont think future should be given so much flak, they still provide a huge number of events for us throughout the year and bring us big DJ names. we complain about the commercialisation of the scene, but we're forgetting why we love the scene so much.
they did a great job having Medevent there, they just should have had RaveSafe too.

PLUS - it wasnt 10 overdoses but 5