Partygoers put in induced comas after overdosing at Flemington music festival

Nine people were rushed to hospital in critical conditions after suspected overdoses on party drugs at a music festival in Melbourne on the weekend, renewing calls for the introduction of pill testing.

Eight of the partygoers were put into induced comas and on breathing tubes after the Hardmission Festival at Flemington Racecourse on Saturday. Some had been discharged by Monday afternoon.

Eight people were rushed to hospital after overdosing on drugs at a music festival on the weekend.

Two men in their 20s were taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, where they remained in a critical condition on Monday afternoon.

Another man, also believed to be in his 20s, was in a stable condition by Monday afternoon at the Austin Hospital and was expected to fully recover.

Three people — a man believed to be in his 20s, another man and a woman whose ages were unknown — were taken to St Vincent’s Hospital. Two had been discharged by Monday afternoon while the third was in a serious condition.

Ambulance Victoria said paramedics took a woman in her 20s to Western Health’s Sunshine Hospital, a teenage female was taken to Western Health Footscray, and another woman whose age was unknown was also taken there.

Ambulance Victoria said it took three patients to Western Health facilities, however Western Health said it had treated four patients. Three were continuing to receive treatment in the intensive care unit, one of whom was critical.

Two others were in a serious but stable condition while the fourth had been discharged, a Western Health spokesman said.

Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill said many of the patients had required breathing tubes after overdosing on MDMA at the festival.

“They were so unwell that doctors had to take over the work of breathing for the patient,” he told 3AW.

Hill said the high-level treatment was typically reserved for the most time-critical patients and patients in life-threatening health conditions.

“Our MICA paramedics, who perform this skill on the side of the road for patients who are in horrific car accidents, who have head injuries who have strokes, they had to perform rapid sequence intubation on a number of the patients that the emergency doctors couldn’t get to.”

Those affected had been attending the first Hardmission Festival to be held in Australia, an electronic music festival run by United Music Events, which organises parties across Europe and Asia.

Representatives of DanceWize, a peer-based alcohol and drug harm reduction program, were on site during the festival.

The Victorian Greens’ spokesperson for drug harm reduction, Aiv Puglielli, called the overdoses a tragedy.

Hardmission Australia was held at Flemington Racecourse on Saturday.

“One thing is clear, the current approach, the current war on drugs mentality and how we deal with the issue of people taking illicit substances puts young people’s lives at risk,” he said in a statement.

The Greens, Legalise Cannabis and the Animal Justice Party each renewed their calls for a pill testing trial.

Hill said the Victorian Ambulance Union supported the introduction of a pill testing regime across Victoria, as part of a measure to protect music festival attendees.

“They have it in Queensland and in the ACT,” he said.

“Exactly what it looks like; we’d be open to and there’s probably a number of different models.”

Hill said the weekend’s overdoses would likely have been preventable if proper education was available to those choosing to take drugs at parties.

“Some of these patients were mature adults and not teenagers. They were in their 20s and 30s. They’ve chosen to take these drugs, and I just don’t think we’ve had enough information out there and enough effort out there to prevent people from taking them.”

Major Events Minister Steve Dimopoulos said he understood one of the patients had been discharged from hospital while the others were still receiving care.

He said the government had not ruled out measures to prevent overdoses in the future, but currently had no plans to introduce pill testing in Victoria.

Dimopoulos said the government was open to looking at “innovative approaches” that could benefit the health and welfare of Victorians, once more was known about what happened at Hardmission. He said how the festival fans ended up in hospital was still being established.

“The poison centre is still diagnosing what actually happened here. Let’s have a look at what the actual evidence shows,” he said.

The event organiser has been contacted for comment.

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