A 19-year-old Sydney man has been charged with drug offences after allegedly supplying a 21-year-old woman with a fatal dose of MDMA.
The girl died earlier this year – on Sunday, 4th June – after overdosing on the drug, which police say she took while attending a music event in Petersham the night before.
Investigators are alleging that the man supplied the girl with ecstasy while they were both at the gig.
But emergency services weren’t called until 8.45 the next morning, after the girl fell ill at a home in Marrickville. Sadly, she died before paramedics arrived on the scene.
Following an investigation, police have charged the 19-year-old with supplying a prohibited drug.
He’s due to front court on Monday, 11th October, while police are continuing their investigations.
The tragedy comes on the heels of a new report that says Aussie ecstasy use is increasing, while the drug itself is becoming stronger.
It also comes at a time when ecstasy-related hospital admissions have doubled in NSW, while there’ve been a number of drug-related deaths at Aussie music festivals over the past year and countless near-fatal overdoses.
But in the face of mounting calls from leading politicians, doctors, public health and drug experts, criminologists, lawyers, policy writers, researchers and police for a major paradigm shift in the way that Australia thinks about and tackles drug use, the NSW Government in particular remains steadfastly committed to its war on drugs and drug users, with Premier Mike Baird offering the alternative solution of “just don’t take the pills and you’ll be fine!” to combat the state’s growing ecstasy epidemic.
However, it seems the push for a ‘harm minimisation’ approach to drug use, which shifts the focus on preventing overdoses rather than punishing offenders, is gaining support, with a motion to remove sniffer dogs and introduce pill testing facilities at Australian music festivals recently passing the Senate.
