Defqon tragedy
Two dead at Sydney’s Defqon. 1 festival, prompting calls for change
AFTER TWO PEOPLE DIED AND others were hospitalised after reportedly taking illegal drugs at a Western Sydney music festival on Sept. 15, the NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has promised to shut down future events.
Joseph Pham, a 23-year-old from Western Sydney, collapsed after suffering an apparent drug overdose, which led to a heart attack during the Defqon. 1 festival. He died after being airlifted to Nepean Hospital. A 21-year-old Melbourne woman, yet to be named, also died. Thirteen other people were hospitalised with suspected overdoses, and one remains in a critical condition. Hundreds more sought help from medical staff at the event.
“We will do everything we can to shut this down. I don’t want to see this event happen again,” Berejiklian said, adding that the concert, held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre in Penrith, was an “unsafe event” and the deaths “tragic”.
During the festival, 69 people were found with illicit substances by police and 10 others were charged with drug supply offences, including two 17-year-old girls allegedly carrying 120 capsules. Two other illegal drug-related deaths have occurred at the festival in the past five years.
Experts have criticised the premier’s zero tolerance stance, arguing prohibition leads to more deaths and a harm-reduction service of pill testing or drug checking should be introduced.
Drug policy expert Dr Nicole Lee tweeted, “These kids died because of #prohibition. More prohibition isn’t going to solve this problem. Young people will experiment and we may or may not agree with those choices, but they shouldn’t die because of them.”
Ted Noffs Foundation spokesperson Kieran Palmer told Channel Nine’s Today program that the current system is failing.
“We have the evidence. Shutting down festivals, getting tough on drugs, telling kids to ‘Just say no’ doesn’t work. It doesn’t change behaviour,” he said. But acting assistant police commissioner Allan Sicard said that introducing pill testing would be a “bad look for the government” and for police.
Pill testing booths are seen in nightclubs and festivals in many European countries, including the Netherlands and Germany, where users are able to check the ingredients in drugs they have bought before consuming them. Proponents argue that the service acts as a vital way to reduce harm, but critics say it just legitimises dangerous and illegal drug taking. •