Four attendees at Field Day music festival collapsed and were treated for suspected drug overdoses despite police introducing drug amnesty bins at the event.
The revellers who collapsed had life threatening symptoms and were treated at the scene by specialist emergency paramedics before being rushed to hospital.
Paramedics treated the patients on site at the Domain in Sydney at the New Years Day event before they were transported to hospital.
Despite all the warnings about drugs being banned at the event, 167 were charged with possession and a further two people were charged with supply.
Four attendees at Field Day music festival collapsed with critical symptoms from suspected drug overdoses despite police implementing drug amnesty bins at the event
There was a high police presence at the music festival in Sydney’s Domain keeping an eye on the 27,000 partygoers
Five additional revellers were also admitted to hospital in less serious conditions including four who were suffering from the effects of drugs.
One patient is still in intensive care and another patient is expected to be discharged on Friday, reports The Daily Telegraph.
The remaining seven patients have already been released from hospital.
‘Throughout Field Day, nine patients were transferred to Hospital via ambulance,’ a NSW health spokesman said.
‘Four of these patients received high level emergency care on site by medical teams. Drugs were likely to be a factor in eight of the nine cases.’
A strong police presence at the music festival, held in the city’s Domain, kept an eye on the 27,000 partygoers.
Police officers were stationed at the entrance of the Field Day festival with drug dogs by their side to assist them
Once inside the grounds, attendees were met with new drug amnesty bins introduced to encourage people to throw out illegal pills without being fined or charged.
The bins were introduced in response to an increase in MDMA-related deaths at music festivals.
A 19-year-old man was also charged after officers allegedly located more 3.4g of MDMA in his underwear.
NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Michael Willing said sniffer dogs as well as uniformed and undercover officers would deliberately avoid areas where the bins are placed so revellers could throw out their drugs without fear of arrest.
‘Officers will be directed not to ordinarily patrol or interact with the bins,’ he said.
‘We don’t want to see police standing around where the bins are and stopping people from disposing personal-use drugs.’
Festival-goers were met with newly introduced amnesty bins which encourage people to throw away illegal drugs safely
Mr Willing said any revellers caught with drugs away from the amnesty bins would be dealt with on ‘a case-by-case basis’.
‘Common sense’ will be used by police if they catch people with substances claiming they are on their way to a drug disposal bin, he said.
Mr Willing said police at the event would consider a number of factors such as the distance from the bin and the amount of drugs being carried.
The bins were managed NSW Health and placed near the entrances of festivals and close to the medical tent inside the grounds.
The bins are part of a 12 month trial at high risk festivals including Field Day, on January 1, and FOMO Festival on January 11.
The heavy police presence pictured near the Art Gallery of New South Wales just outside of the festival’s entrance
The disposal points come as pressure mounts on the NSW Government to prevent drug-related deaths at music festivals,
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has long opposed the introduction of pill testing in the state believing it will give festival goers a false sense of security and condone illicit drug use.
‘I want to give the community our assurance as a government that we’re doing everything we can to keep young people safe,’ she told reporters in Sydney on December 11th.
We believe amnesty bins are a good way to increase safety so that young people, if they see police or if they see other activity, don’t panic and have the opportunity, without any questions asked, to throw those pills into the bin.
‘The strongest message we continue to give as a government is that drugs kills you.
‘That’s why they’re illegal. Do not take MDMA. Do not take ecstasy. Do not take any illegal drug because they can kill you’ she said.
One party-goer experienced is seen chatting to officers. There was a strong police presence at the festival
The trial is being put into place just as NSW Health has issued an urgent warning over potentially deadly ecstasy pills shaped like blue Lego blocks.
A number of the double and triple standard dosage MDMA pills were seized in northern New South Wales.
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said last month that most of the harm caused to people injured by illicit drugs was not caused by contaminants but by the very drugs they intended to purchase.
‘Pill testing will not reduce this harm,’ he said.
‘At present, the technology does not allow for adequate identification of dose levels or small traces of highly toxic substances.
‘The testing method, in which only a small portion of a pill is tested, is also an inaccurate reflection of the composition of the entire pill,’ he said.
There is no suggestion from Daily Mail Australia that any of the people pictured in this story were involved in drugs supply or consumption.