By Mario Christodoulou, Caro Meldrum Hanna, Jaya Balendra and Elise Worthington
The number of ecstasy users appearing at NSW hospitals has almost doubled in the past six years, as pressure builds on the Government to rethink its tough stance on party drugs.
A study of patient data from 59 NSW emergency departments shows a steady increase in the number of ecstasy-related presentations for people aged 16 to 24, whose admissions rose from 413 in 2010 to 814 by 2015.
Last year saw one of the worst starts to the music festival season in recent memory, with four suspected ecstasy deaths between September and December.
It brought the total ecstasy-related deaths for the year to six, including 25-year-old Sylvia Choi, who died after attending the Stereosonic festival in Sydney and Stefan Woodward, who died after the Stereosonic festival in Adelaide.
The rising death toll has put pressure on the NSW Government to reconsider its hardline approach to party drugs, which includes high-visibility operations with drug-detection dogs at festivals across the state.
Doctors and drug campaigners have urged the Government to consider ecstasy pill testing — a practice used in parts of Europe to give drug users a way of testing their pills for contaminants and other drugs before using them.
NSW Police Minister Troy Grant has rejected this approach.
Pill testing ‘would reduce danger’
Four Corners has spoken to former law enforcement and judicial officials who say police should introduce pill testing at festivals to help keep young people safe.