A 19-year-old man is dead and a 20-year-old in hospital after suspected drug overdoses at Sydney dance party A State of Trance, which took place on Saturday evening. The 19-year-old is said to have collapsed on the dance floor, whereafter he was taken to Concord Hospital and died.
40 people were arrested at the festival on charges of possession and supply.
One man was arrested with 98 ecstasy pills, and another with 130. They will likely face charges of supplying an indictable quantity of ecstasy. 20% of those convicted of supplying ecstasy receive terms of full-time imprisonment. The actual quantity of drugs supplied affects the seriousness of the penalty, meaning that if these individuals are convicted, they are more likely to go to prison than a person who supplies 5 pills. If it can be proven that the pills these persons supplied were the same ones that killed the teenager, then this would also make their alleged crime more serious, however, this would be difficult to prove where the party was full of multiple suppliers who may have been carrying drugs of a similar chemical quality.
Another individual was gave himself up to police after accidentally swallowing a bag of pills in an attempt to hide them from police. His concern for his own health apparently overrode his concern about getting arrested, and he was taken to hospital and released on Sunday. He would likely face a supply charge if the police decided to make inquiries of the hospital as to the drugs consumed, but this does not appear to have happened.
The events at A State of Trance are a startling reminder of the dangers of taking illicit drugs at dance parties, and this death sadly is not the first and probably not the last incident of fatal drug overdose in Sydney this festival season.
Image credit: FSOE Recordings and Sydney Morning Herald
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