Victorian teen passes out amid fears of drink spiking at Byron Bay schoolies

A Victorian student passed out and more than a dozen others reported suspicious reactions after drinking water at a popular Byron Bay pub during schoolies. Now police are investigating.

Police are investigating the drink spiking of a Victorian student at Byron Bay schoolies amid reports of more than a dozen teens affected by a suspicious substance.

The incidents occurred on Monday night at the schoolies mecca which is currently hosting thousands of Melbourne year 12 revellers from many of Victoria’s top private and public schools.

Police were called after one female teen passed out after a suspicious reaction to a drink of water consumed at one of Byron Bay’s most popular pubs for schoolies.

This claim is still under investigation by NSW Police.

“She was in the heat waiting to get in for two hours and when she got in there, there were jugs of water on the counter and she had some,” an eyewitness said.

“Her friend went off to buy bottled water but within five minutes of drinking the water she had passed out and was taken to hospital and when she woke up she couldn’t remember anything.”

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More than a dozen teens — both males and females — also believe they were affected after consuming water from jugs which had been spiked.

“They didn’t need to go to hospital, but it was really strange. They were hallucinating and panicking after drinking the water,” one teen said.

An emergency services source said drink spiking did occur at such events: “With large amounts of alcohol being consumed, it’s always taken very seriously,” he said.

But he said he did not believe drink spiking was happening on a large scale at Byron Bay this year.

“Licensee holders are good at protecting their customers,” he said.

Last year NSW police confirmed they probed at least three reports of drink spiking at the popular coastal hub.

It comes as Red Frogs, the Christian youth charity supporting teens at schoolies, warned students that “drink spiking is a big issue at schoolies/leavers week”.

This year schoolies organisers gave students a single-use anti-drink spiking stopper to put in their drink bottles.

The pub involved could not be contacted by the Herald Sun.

NSW Police confirmed the investigation but declined to comment.