A 23-year-old man died and at least 14 others were suspected to have overdosed on drugs at a dance music festival near Sydney, Australia, over the weekend, the latest in a string of drug-related injuries that have marred the growing dance craze this year.
The man, who was not identified, died in a hospital after taking three pills at Defqon.1, a “hard trance†festival in the suburb of Penrith that drew 18,000 people, according to Australian news reports. A detective with the New South Wales police told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the pills were probably an imitation of ecstasy, also known as MDMA or molly.
Two young people died from overdoses of ecstasy and related drugs at the Electric Zoo festival on Randalls Island in New York over Labor Day weekend, and at least five others have died across the United States of similar causes this year. The deaths have caused some promoters to cancel dance events and have worried music executives that the negative publicity could scare off corporate sponsors, a growing part of what has been estimated to be a $4.5 billion dance industry.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the police patrolled Defqon.1 with drug-sniffing dogs, and made 84 arrests there for drug offenses.
The promoter, Q-Dance Australia, said that it was deeply saddened by the man’s death, and that it has a zero-tolerance drug policy. A note on its Web site, however, says that Q-Dance “does not endorse or condone†the use of MDMA, and urges its patrons to take sports drinks like Gatorade to replenish the electrolytes lost by taking these drugs.
