100 found with drugs at Defqon1 Festival

[Chiral]

LINK

Five people were taken to Nepean Hospital and 100 people were charged with drug offences at the sold-out Defqon1 Festival on Saturday, September 19.

Between 10am and 10pm, the large-scale dance festival was held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre at Castlereagh with 15,000 party-goers.

Three people who were suspected of suffering from a drug overdose and two people needing medical

attention where taken to Nepean Hospital.

About 100 people were issued court attendance notices for possessing prohibited drugs. Main drugs detected at the festival were ecstasy, amphetamines and cannabis.

Police from Penrith and neighbouring local area commands as well as officers from the Drug Dog Unit

and Public Order and Riot Squad attended the event.

With the use of sniffer dogs, a large number of people were searched.

A 19-year-old Canley Heights man was arrested after he was allegedly found in possession of 140 ecstasy pills.

He was taken to Penrith Police Station where he was charged with supplying a prohibited drug and refused bail and appeared at Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday.

During the course of the dance festival over 200 people received medical treatment for heat exhaustion and minor injuries.

Penrith Duty Officer, Chief Inspector Damon Cox said he was disappointed and concerned to see so many people arrested for drug possession and anti-social behaviour.

He said the general behaviour of the festival goers was pleasing and most who attended had a fun and safe time, however, it is disappointing to see a small minority of people ruining it for others.

``I am saddened to see so many young people being arrested for drug possession but I make no apologies for the hard work police did during the festival to detect those hell bent on breaking the law,'' Chief Inspector Cox said.

``This event could have ended in tragedy and with five people being taken to hospital for drug overdoses it is five people too many.

``I want people to realise drugs arent fun, they are dangerous and they kill people.''

[paradox]

serves them right for going to such a shit party

[reptyle]

"they all want him to realise that drugs are fun, safe and that he actually kills people."

15,000 people one tragedy...sounds like a righteous price to pay for such a battle against boredom.

hell bent on breaking the spirits of honest hardworking teenage party goers...i am saddened to see such disillusioned imbeciles in positions of power obstructing the course of Gods own ability to make educated decisions for his/her own enjoyment of the life we are so obviously gifted with...

"the general behavior of police officers is appalling and should be looked at with some serious motivations for reformation. though i am commending the attitudes of those living within the state of freedom." he said

and i quite --- "most who attended had a fun and safe time, however, it is disappointing to see a small minority of people ruining it for others."

[Hendry]

That overdose may have been caused by the individual ingesting a larger amount of drugs prior to entering the venue in order to avoid getting sniffed by the Gestapo sniffer dogs.

The Report also indicates that the drug dogs may even be exacerbating the harmful effects of drug use.

“We received various reports suggesting that drug users were engaging in risky drug taking strategies in an attempt to avoid detection. Such strategies included: the consumption of larger amounts of drugs at once instead of taking smaller amounts over a period of time; consuming drugs at home and then driving to entertainment venues; purchasing drugs from unknown sources at venues to avoid carrying drugs; and switching to potentially more harmful drugs such as GHB [Gamma Hydroxy Butyrate] in the belief that these drugs are less likely to be detected by drug detection dogs.”

Especially worrying, in my opinion, was when the Ombudsman “received reports that the use of drug detection dogs in the vicinity of health services such as needle and syringe exchange programs, methadone clinics, and the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, deterred people from using these health services and may have resulted in some drug users engaging in risky drug taking practices such as needle sharing. It was also suggested that, as a result of drug detection dog operations, some drug users were less likely to return used injecting equipment, undermining strategies to encourage the safe disposal of needles and syringes.”

Ombudsman Report on Sniffer Dogs

Much easier and safer for the police to hassle stoners at concerts than it is to target violent criminals.

Guilty until proven innocent. It's fucking Nazi Germany

[mac]

Public Order and Riot Squad

sounds a little hard core for potheads & people on X were they expecting trouble ?

15000 people & only 5 hospitalized ...... i wonder how many people were admitted to hospital because of alcohol related injury's from say 2 or 3 of the most popular Sydney clubs ?

as for the bloke with 140 ecstasy pills well he must get the tool of the month award as Tex perkins sang (i swear officer sombody must have put it in my pocket when i wasnt looking )

Edited September 21, 2009 by mac

[ThunderIdeal]

rofl!

you tell 'em reptyle.

[FancyPants]

Only three of those five were from suspected drug overdoses, the other two could've been diabetics or asthamatics.

Tunnel vision is alive and well in the media.

Sniffer dogs can't smell LSD can they? Maybe that's why the hospitalisation was so low and why they only detected pot, pingers, and speed.

Arseholes for taking the dogs around the needle X and shit.

[SunChaser]

When they say "drug overdose" they could just mean some inexperienced X user who got dehydrated.

Notice how the media always makes it look like the majority of people wernt taking drugs, is that not the whole point of these things.

[Oh 'cos?]

Hah... more than 80% of the attendees probably were on some sort of drug.

I didn't go, however, my mate got thrown out of the party in the first hour because he got sniffed out having 10 pills on him. That's a lot of money goooone just like that.

[Foton]

Drugs are not fun? hahahahahahaha