<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/31/when-a-seriously-ill-sydney-raver-set-off-alarm-bells-a-dj-stepped-in-to-avert-a-nightmare-scenario>
"Late on Saturday night, as dance music blazed at Sydney Olympic Park, a small
team of medical experts realised they had a “nightmare scenario” on their
hands.
A raver at the HTID festival was in need of help. They’d taken what they
believed to be the popular party drug MDMA. But their symptoms were serious and
not typically associated with the drug. When they responded to naloxone – a
medication designed to rapidly reverse the impacts of opioids – the specialists
knew they had to act fast.
The person had unknowingly taken a form of nitazene, which is a strong
synthetic opioid more dangerous than fentanyl and heroin. Even a small dose can
cause overdose or death. The experts feared festivalgoers might inadvertently
take a large dose, thinking it was MDMA.
The drug circulating among the crowd was a pink pill with the words “Red Bull”
pressed into it. Days later New South Wales Health linked the same pill to
three hospitalisations, with one person treated in the intensive care unit. All
three had taken half the pill. Subsequent tests showed it contained no MDMA at
all.
The medical experts warned DanceWize NSW – a group of volunteers raising
awareness about drug safety who were at the festival – about what was
circulating. The group quickly made sure police and festival organisers
realised lives were at stake.
At 10.30pm the festival organisers cut the music and 21,000 people stopped
dancing. On centre stage, an organiser and regular DJ at HTID events told the
crowd what they knew."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
