AUS: Dangerous new drug 'flakka' could be behind mass Gold Coast overdose

Police believe a dangerous new drug, 'flakka', dubbed "the scariest in America", could be behind a mass overdose on the Gold Coast.

Emergency services responded to reports of drug overdoses on the Islander Hotel in Surfers Paradise and a home in Mermaid Waters early yesterday.

Paramedics first attended the Surfers Paradise hotel about 1am, where three Victorian footballer players were found hallucinating, jumping on furniture and babbling incoherently. One man stopped breathing before being taken to hospital.

Later, five young people at a house party in Mermaid Waters had similar reactions. Emergency services said the group were yelling, panicking, jumping into the canal and running down the street.

"There was a couple running up and down the street, the others were just laying on the couch, very agitated and not making much sense," Queensland Ambulance Service spokesperson Paul Young said.

It is understood the partygoers thought they were taking MDMA.

The five men and three women, all believed to be aged in their late teens to early 20s, remain at Gold Coast University Hospital, two are in a serious condition and one is in an induced coma.

The drug is believed to have been purchased in the nightclub precinct of Surfers Paradise.

Mr Young said the mass overdose was a "concern" leading up to Schoolies, which officially kicks off in Queensland on November 19.

"It's a bit of a concern to QAS and other emergency services, being so close to Schoolies, that these type of drugs are around out there, and this is what happens if you should take them," Mr Young said.

The synthetic hallucinogen is scientifically known as Alpha PVP and combines the effects of 'ice' – or methamphetamine – and LSD. It is also known as 'gravel' and 'zombie'.


Source: http://www.9news.com.au/national/20...ug-overdose-on-gold-coast#4F0v5KPjiJCs3fT7.99

The synthetic hallucinogen is scientifically known as Alpha PVP and combines the effects of 'ice' – or methamphetamine – and LSD. It is also known as 'gravel' and 'zombie'

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Ive used A-PVP numerous times and never once hallucinated on it, the effects are similar to MDPV.

Another media beat up

This is indicative of the current state of our media - zero research, mere speculation - these people having adverse reactions from "drugs" could have taken one of thousands of psychoactive substances being produced around the world.

Gutter "journalism".
No research, no insight, no clue.
Unadulterated bullshit

Well it's so much easier to just repeat the sensationalist claims of American news sources (specifically Florida, which is the most sensational part of America) than it is to do actual research...

With the provolone drugs such as MDPV and A-PVP the dose curve is very small so id imagine that people who are unfamiliar with these compounds are snorting 100mg+ lines which will get anyone in trouble. When I used to use MDPV Id vape 25mg's at a time which was more than enough, I couldnt imagine doing big fat lines

This is why Bluelight is so important, people are going to take drugs regardless of what the media, government or police say so it's better to educate people on how to safely take these substances

That's true - if this is accurate (which i doubt because the peevees are pretty hard to come by these days aren't they?).

If someone took 100mg of a-pvp they'd be completely fucked up...but that seems far more likely to have happened 4 or 5 years ago than now.
The press are so clueless about RCs that it's bizarre to read.

I'm in Australia and the videos they showed on the news are very frightening. One guy bouncing up and down on the ground having muscle convulsions or a seizure, hard to tell.

What's worse is that it was sold to them by a "friend" AS MDMA (claims one news source, presumably from the victims)....so of course they all take a normal MDMA dose. HORRIBLE. WHO THE FUCK WOULD DO THIS SHIT TO PEOPLE? Turns out it's Middle-eastern and Vietnamese crime gangs. You can see by the area in which people were hospitalised that these dealers just walked from club to club selling it as MDMA........

All the more reason MDMA and pot should be legalised. With rc's getting more and more obscure and at an incredibly cheap cost this is a likely scenario in the future. Even the cops and media say if you are going to use then "be careful". Schoolies is right around the corner and I hope we don't see this again.

I mean 4x++ the dose of a-pvp....I'm surprised no one died.

I agree the press have no clue and fear mongering really doesn't help. I can't believe one of their starting lines was that it was a mix of LSD and Ice....Sounds more like stimulant overdose. Again putting LSD into a bad light for NO GOOD REASON.

You don't know that it was a-pvp. You don't know that it was Vietnamese or Middle-Eastern 'crime gangs'. You don't know that it was sold in clubs.

All of those things are highly unlikely. You've just done the same thing that the press do.

Yeah I don't think speculating on the substance without any proof from the police saying they have had it tested and it is in fact (insert some chemical name here) is a good idea. I don't think I have read anywhere that it is definitely flakka or anything else.

There are so many rc's that having a guess is just silly. Same with trying to tie the sale or distribution (or importation) to any group from any area. It's all just here say and speculation.

Without lab testing none of us know what it really is/was.

I saw a facebook post that one of the guys who had some said they did buy them as ecstasy though and he said something about dont do drugs for your sake or his, or something like that.

As for MDMA being made legal, well that's just not going to happen in Australia is it. Even weed is going to take a very long time to become legal in Australia, probably not in my lifetime I would imagine. The government and police have way too much invested in keeping it illegal.

Kaden_Nite said:

You don't know that it was a-pvp. You don't know that it was Vietnamese or Middle-Eastern 'crime gangs'. You don't know that it was sold in clubs.

All of those things are highly unlikely. You've just done the same thing that the press do.

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He is speculating, but I feel like all those things are actually pretty likely (if it matches where people were found). A-PvP is what was "flakka" in Florida. Aren't SE Asian gangs responsible for much of the drug importation in Australia? And a lot of people take drugs like MDMA at clubs, and it's the least likely place to have a test kit...

If this was from a major supplier - the toll on my city would have been far more detrimental than this. Singling out certain ethnicities based purely on speculation, I think there's a word for that.

There is absolutely no evidence that the drug was a-pvp, one of the girls posted that she started hallucinating seconds after snorting the stuff - everyone on it was hallucinating in fact, 'flakka' is purely speculating, but nothing sells newspapers like headlines that read 'Flakka: The Zombie Drug Hits Our Shores' or 'Gold Coast Police Brace For Zombie Apocalypse'.

^ I wish I could say I made that up by the way.. that was an actual headline. The drug still hasn't even been tested.

And as for it being sold in clubs, I live a 2 minute walk from that club. I've never been offered drugs for sale by strangers there or any where on that strip. There's plenty of drugs around, they just aren't sold like that.

Hi Poledriver,

I'm a reporter for ABC's 7.30 current affairs program and formerly with triple j Hack. Are you happy to pass on the Facebook post to me privately so I can contact the person directly and see if they're interested in talking with me over the phone? I'm looking at doing a story once some of the toxicology results come back and we know a little more.

Thanks so much.
Michael Atkin
ABC 7.30
[email protected]

Michael. I hope you talk to Dr Alex Wodak or Dr David Caldicott who are pushing for legal pill testing which could have avoided this situation.

Also the politicians that are dead against it despite evidence of its success overseas and are who just trying to push a zero tolerance line which is a proven failure. We need evidence based harm reduction practices.

Hey Michael, sorry but I only saw a screen shot of the post that someone had added to a comments section after one of the articles on (I think it was) channel 9's face book page. I went back and had a quick look to see if I could find it again and couldn't.

It was one of the youngish guys from the gold coast area who had posted about it and someone had just screen shotted it added it to the comments. I cant recall the name of the guy. So I don't think I can help at all.

Cheers.

Yeah, as consumer mentioned get in touch with those guys if you havent already -

https://twitter.com/ACTINOSProject (David Caldicott)

https://twitter.com/AlexWodak

Thanks all, no worries about that Pole. Let me know if you think of any more. Appreciate the other suggestions have been in touch with David Caldicott and Alex Wodak.

Mystery drug that put 16 people in hospital at the weekend was hallucinogen N-bomb and not 'flakka'

Horror weekend on the Gold Coast saw 16 people hospitalised from drugs
It was initially reported they had overdosed on zombie drug 'flakka'
Toxicology reports have confirmed they took a mix of LSD and MDMA
Two people have been charged in connection to the drug mayhem
Officers are concerned ahead of the Gold Coast 600 and school holidays

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WHAT IS N-BOMB?
'N Bomb' is the street name given to a powerful hallucinogen similar to LSD (acid)
It distorts the user's senses and can be unpredictable, resulting in a 'bad trip'
The people who overdosed on the Gold Coast were found with both LSD (acid) and MDMA (ecstasy) in their system - a potentially lethal cocktail of drugs
It's believed they had a bad batch of

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An outbreak of terrifying drug overdoses on the Gold Coast were the result of a bad batch of a drug called 'N-bomb' and MDMA, and not zombie drug 'flakka' as initially feared.
The horror weekend in Queensland's party city saw 21 people treated and 16 people hospitalised following violent and incredibly volatile reactions to a mystery drug.

It was widely reported people had likely overdosed on flakka, a hallucinogen which sends users into a paranoid frenzy where they act like zombies.
But police toxicology reports have since returned and confirmed the people tested had no flakka in their system, and instead had traces of MDMA and LSD, according to the Gold Coast Bulletin.

It comes as Queensland Police released a video showcasing a collection of the confronting drug overdoses witnessed across the weekend.
In disturbing video caught on bodycam by officers, an 18-year-old girl can be seen collapsed in the street while screaming and writhing around in pain.
Officers say they were forced to sedate the girl in order to take her to hospital after they were called out at around 9pm on Saturday, October 15.

Elsewhere a 42-year-old man wearing nothing more than a pair of boxers and a single sock was filmed begging for help after collapsing on the back seat of a car.
Police and medics had to wrestle the man into an ambulance on Monday at around 11.30pm after being called by an Uber driver when the man started lashing out.

AFL player Riki Stephens, 27, from Victoria, is also in a coma at a Gold Coast hospital after a suspected overdose of the drug.
He was one of 16 people who were hospitalised in just one weekend on the Gold Coast as police warn the problem could be about to get worse.

Brian Codd, assistant commissioner for the South East, said: 'As we lead into the Gold Coast 600 and the schoolies, our focus will be on the safety and security of our community.
'The reality is this: There is no safe way to take these illicit drugs. Reference to recreational drugs, party drugs, feeds into a narrative that sometimes give attraction to what these poisons, toxins and compounds are, and what they do to people.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ed-16-people-weekend-hallucinogen-N-bomb.html

Footballer Riki Stephens dies after Gold Coast overdose

VICTORIAN footballer Riki Stephens has reportedly died nearly a week after a deadly drug overdose.
The family of the 27-year-old, who was on the Gold Coast celebrating the end of the season, made the heartbreaking decision to turn off his life support at the Gold Coast University Hospital yesterday.

It prompted friends and teammates to flood his Facebook page with tributes.
“Rest easy Riki Stephens a great bloke who’s life has been taken far to early. Thoughts go out to the Stephens family and friends,” wrote Heath George.
Friend Luke Jackson said he was “a jet of a bloke who will be missed so dearly” while Billy Barden said it was “only a few weeks ago we were having a beer on your deck watching the footy mate!! RIP Riki Stephens!”

There were 16 reports of drug overdoses in Surfers Paradise, Labrador and Mermaid Waters last weekend.
Police yesterday confirmed toxicology results indicated those tested ingested a cocktail of amphetamine-type substances (ATS) including methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), as well as a synthetic lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known as N bomb.

These tests found no trace of α-Pyrrolidinopentiophenone, known as “flakka”.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/he...e/news-story/9ff2f513e859f92c9070a6bb1203bdf1

Drug ‘N-bomb’ that caused GC overdoses was the same drug that killed backpacker Rye Hunt

WHEN 16 drug users fell ill last weekend, suffering hallucinations and acting violently, many feared the so-called “zombie drug” had arrived on the Gold Coast.

In fact, the drug that caused so much havoc — and sadly on Friday cost Victorian footballer Riki Stephens his life — was N-bomb, the same drug linked to the death of Australian backpacker Rye Hunt.
Mr Hunt, 25, died after he took the powerful psychoactive drug NBOMe, or N-bomb, during a night out in Brazil in May. Residents found a body washed ashore on Guaratiba beach on the island of Marica, 50km from Rio, nearly two weeks after he was seen.
It was believed Mr Hunt thought the drug was MDMA.

A statement from Queensland Police on Thursday revealed toxicology results from the 16 people affected last weekend showed they had taken a cocktail of amphetamine-type substances including (MDMA), as well as a synthetic LSD, or N-bomb.
These tests found no trace of α-Pyrrolidinopentiophenone, commonly known as “flakka”.

Superintendent Michelle Stenner said confusion over its make-up was almost irrelevant after it was originally thought to be flakka, a substance which had caused recent damage overseas.

“Regardless of whether it’s LSD, MDMA, N-Bomb, marijuana, whatever you want to call it — these are dangerous drugs and they are called dangerous for a reason,” she said.
There were 16 reports of drug overdoses in Surfers Paradise, Labrador and Mermaid Waters last weekend.

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- None of them related to cannabis at all, but I'll just throw it in anyway, hey Michelle?


Among them was Mr Stephens who reportedly had his life support turned off nearly a week after the overdose.
The family of the 27-year-old, who was on the Gold Coast celebrating the end of the football season, made the heartbreaking decision to turn off his life support at the Gold Coast University Hospital yesterday, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported.
It prompted friends and teammates to flood his Facebook page with tributes.

“Rest easy Riki Stephens a great bloke who’s life has been taken far to early. Thoughts go out to the Stephens family and friends,” wrote Heath George.
Friend Luke Jackson said he was “a jet of a bloke who will be missed so dearly” while Billy Barden said it was “only a few weeks ago we were having a beer on your deck watching the footy mate!! RIP Riki Stephens!”
Two people have been charged over the drug overdoses. A 24-year-old Bundall man was charged with supplying a dangerous drug.

On Sunday, the man was charged with supplying a dangerous drug and on Wednesday a 21-year-old man was charged for supply of a dangerous drug and possession of a dangerous drug.
Police were called to eight of the drug incidents at the weekend. At least one person was having a seizure. Another was caught running straight into oncoming traffic at Surfers Paradise, while others had to be tackled to the ground.
Most were suffering severe hallucinations.

Monica Barratt from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of NSW told Triple J earlier this year N-bomb emerged over the past five years.
The drug was usually taken in a similar way to LSD “under the tongue or in the cheek” and was usually taken in far lower doses than MDMA.

“The dose you take is very low, in the micrograms, unlike with MDMA which is taken in the milligrams,” she said.
It was harder to detect if it was mixed with other drugs, Dr Barratt said.

http://www.news.com.au/national/que...t/news-story/be610a069b46c5b92d9a5d3e4879c32f

news.com.au said:

Police yesterday confirmed toxicology results indicated those tested ingested a cocktail of amphetamine-type substances (ATS) including methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), as well as a synthetic lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known as N bomb.

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This is one of the most factually incorrect pieces of clickbait nonsense i've ever come across.
Nothing to do with LSD or MDMA - supposedly one of the x-NBOx family of research chemicals.

So - blaming one non-toxic drug (LSD), one fairly safe drug (MDMA) on these tragic incidents - when neither was involved?

Shameful.
This is a classic example of the kind of completely false reporting we come to expect from Rupert Murdoch's propaganda and misinformation machine.

I wonder if Newscorp weren't so heavily funded by advertising from alcohol peddlers (from brewers, to bottle shops, to bars) - and thus invested in maintaining the status quo of alcohol as the only socially/legally/culturally acceptable intoxicant - we may see more effort to report something resembling a coherent description of the drug in question?

This story highlights why drugs should be better understood by people taking them, by allowing on-site and/or mail-sample drug testing - as well as harm minimisation focused education (rather than the abstinence-only approach) for the sake the community, who are exposed to these potential poisonings by the draconian laws that prevent such testing - and teaching - from taking place.

While it is good to see our highly esteemed Director of Research Tronica (Dr Monica Barratt) quoted in the story above - the overall message is still a muddled and confused one, thanks to the police statement, which again underscores the value (to police) of ignorance and fear in regards to recreational drug use.

What is really disappointing is that a young man has died - and a number of people have been adversely affected - by a drug, but rather than inform or warn the community of the risks (and ways to potentially avoid them) it is being used by law enforcement and Newscorp as a sensationlised message to blame a whole range of completely unrelated drugs for what is a fairly easily explained instance of misrepresentation or adulteration of commonly used drugs with dangerous NPSs (novel psychoactive substances).

This is all just very sad.