The cop in charge of the police operation at Sydney’s Stereosonic Festival says people are playing Russian roulette when they take drugs.
Police have blamed a drug overdose for the death of a 25 year-old woman at Stereosonic Festival in Sydney on Saturday.
The woman from Oyster Bay in southern Sydney got sick at the festival at Olympic Park and was rushed to Concord Hospital, where she later died.
“A 25 year-old woman has lost her life and we believe it's a direct result of a drug overdose. We won't know the full extent of the situation until an autopsy has been conducted,” NSW Police Acting Commissioner Frank Minnelli told reporters.
He’s disappointed with the recklessness of festival punters.
“I think we have to get [to] the mentality of drug culture and music festivals. We’ve got to change it.
“There’s no such thing as safe drugs. You’re playing Russian roulette with your life,” he said.
The event's organisers, Totem Onelove, have issued the following statement today.
"Totem Onelove conveys our deepest condolences to the friends and family of the patron who tragically passed away on Saturday night at Sydney Stereosonic. As it is a matter with the NSW Police and Coroner we cannot make any further statements or comment."
A second woman, a 22 year-old from the UK, remains in an induced coma following the festival, and 120 people were treated for drug-related issues.
Some 48,000 people went to Stereo yesterday and police charged 70 for drug-related offences, down from last year’s festival where 220 people were charged.
Earlier in the week, two men were busted trying to drill holes at Olympic Park and hide their drug stash before the event site went into lockdown.
“We’re doing something wrong”
Emergency room doctor and drug harm minimisation advocate Dr David Caldicott has told Hack he’s sad and angry at another tragic death.
At this stage, it’s not clear what substances the 25 year-old took at Stereosonic.
Regardless, Dr Caldicott is warning summer festival punters about the higher purity MDMA and new synthetic substances in the local drug market.
“We are now in a market that is particularly dangerous with greater numbers and variations of drugs on the market.
“Contrary to what is frequently portrayed, the problem is not about impurity. The problem is probably to do with great purity because the products are being manufactured in pharmaceutical environments.”
Dr Caldicott thinks it’s time to rethink our strategies for dealing with drug use and to shift to harm minimisation.
“There has got to be a better way and as long as young people are dying from this in Australia, we’re doing something wrong.
“The answer isn’t simply, in some sort of paternalistic way, to turn around and tell an entire community they’re naughty for using drugs, because they are going to use drugs.”
“We predicted this. We said this would happen because of the nature of the market and the poverty of our response to it.”