Daily Mail Australia attended HTID festival to see how heightened security in the wake of five deaths at music festivals in six months in NSW alone would affect the party.
But from boarding the train to Olympic Park it was clear some were undeterred. Passengers openly discussed how many capsules they brought and when they were going to take them.
Some decided not to take the risk of arrest and relaxed in the afternoon sun on benches outside the station, while others were drinking from bottles of bourbon in full view of crowds.
A screen in middle of dance floor rotated safety messages including ‘don’t risk your life with drugs’ and ‘protect your hearing’
One put what appeared to be a pill or capsule in his mouth and swallowed it with a swig or Red Bull, while another took a substance from his shoe, snorted some, then put the rest back.
‘I’m f**ked up!’ one man who appeared to be under the influence responded when asked how his day was going.
A few weren’t subtle enough about their drug possession and were spotted being shifty near the gates by police. After being searched by glove-wearing officers they were hauled inside to be charged.
A senior officer said seven people were been arrested in just the first hour after the doors opened.
Getting inside was a 45-minute, multi-stage process starting with a long line outside, then three checkpoints including bag and pocket searches and sniffer dog checks as a dozen police looked on.
There were three checkpoints including bag and pocket searches and sniffer dog checks as a dozen police looked on. Two men are sen here being led away after sniffer dogs detected something
Police seemed to rely almost entirely on the two hardworking canines, but at least one person was pulled out of the line every few minutes and frogmarched to a police truck behind a temporary wall
Some who managed to get their drugs past the phalanx of security weren’t able to dodge the police for long, with a series of people cornered by security and officers and led outside.
One group of three including a bald, shirtless man with bulging muscles was one of the first to be ushered outside after first being spoken to at length.
There were people looking to buy as well, though the price inside is far higher than the $25-30 of street MDMA – as high as $50 and with the risk of the open-air deal being spotted by security.
Less than an hour after entering the festival, Daily Mail Australia was approached by a man looking to score drugs, not knowing who he was speaking to.
‘Hey do you have any caps? I need to buy some caps,’ he said. When told no, he then asked: ‘Do you know anyone who does?’ Other revellers were seen dropping pills on the dancefloor under cover of darkness.
Suddenly the consequences became all too real as a 22-year-old man was taken out of the venue on a stretcher and rushed to Westmead Hospital with a suspected drug overdose.
The young man was in a critical condition and had to be intubated in the ambulance as he couldn’t breathe on his own. Hospital sources said he suffered a cardiac arrest in the ER and was in critical condition.
Fortunately, he survived and was in a stable condition by Sunday morning. Four others overdosed at the festival, two of whom were also in critical condition overnight but all were stable by morning.
Outside the festival, a young woman with makeup streaking down her face said she was kicked out after a sniffer dog found two capsules of MDMA in her bag.
‘My friend asked me to carry two caps for her. I took one before I came in but didn’t want any more because I didn’t want this to happen. Now I’m charged,’ she said.
She faces court in March accused of drug possession.
Three men are fighting for life in hospital with suspected drug overdoses at Hardcore Til I Die – including this 22-year-old man
A witness told Daily Mail Australia of the man’s struggle to stay conscious before being rushed away by paramedics