One person has died and more than 20 people were hospitalised in Melbourne‘s Chapel Street over the weekend after apparently taking what police fear is a bad batch of MDMA.
Detective Senior Sergeant David Newman said that people aged from their teens to their mid-thirties began to fall ill on Friday night, and that a 30-year-old man died on Saturday.
“One person is in a stable condition, all of the others did require different levels of hospitalisation, and there’s also an investigation into a fatality that occurred on the Saturday morning in relation to a drug overdose,” he said.
Police are now warning the public to “think twice” before taking drugs. (If only there was a way to keep the public safe by testing drugs beforehand…)
“There is always a risk whenever someone chooses to take drugs on a night out but clearly this risk is particularly heightened at the moment with what we’ve seen this weekend,” said Newman.
“Drugs such as MDMA are dangerous and manufactured by criminals with absolutely no regard for the safety of the people who take them.
“It’s important that people realise they’re putting themselves in danger of not just hospitalisation, but permanent disability or even death by consuming these drugs.
“We want people to come and have a fun and safe night out, and the last thing police want to be doing is knocking on your family’s door because a tragedy has happened.
“It is a completely avoidable risk.”
A 30-year-old man was arrested on Sunday morning and later charged with trafficking and possession MDMA and possessing the proceeds of crime.
PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to Victoria Police for more information on the drug, but a report on PillReports.net describes a Beige Pacman pill in the Melbourne area that recently left three people violently ill and vomiting.
