A 22-year-old man who died at Victoria’s Rainbow Serpent music festival last year had 16 different substances in his bloodstream, the coroner has found.
Jacob Langford died after suffering a cardiac arrest in the presence of paramedics during the four-day festival in January 2017, and coronial findings have revealed he used alcohol, MDMA, MDA, ketamine, temazepam, oxazepam, atropine, cocaine, diazepam and Xanax in the hours before his death.
The coroner also confirmed reports that Langford swallowed the contents of a brown bottle containing amyl nitrate, instead of inhaling the vapour, the ABC reports.
The coroner has determined Langford’s cause of death to be “multidrug toxicity”, and said the festival-goer didn’t intend to die.
“When his friends realised [Langford had swallowed the amyl nitrate], they yelled at him to vomit,” the coroner wrote.
“Mr Langford attempted to vomit but could not and started to cough. He became weak and started to collapse.”
The coroner also said “some of his friends told him to ‘pull up’ as they believed he was using too much”.
Langford’s family criticised festival organisers following his death, accusing them of running an unsafe event. Organisers later responded, defending the event and those who attend it.
Earlier this year, police said they were “disappointed” with the number of “serious offences” which occurred at the latest edition of Rainbow Serpent, which took place in January.
The Victorian Parliament is expected to table a report into drug law reform in the state later this month.
