A very bad trip down memory lane.
If you thought bad acid went out with Woodstock, think again. Today’s LSD is called ‘Psy acid’ and your teenager may be on it.
This news story backs up what my staff and I are dealing with at the coal face: hard drugs are filtering into teen events.
I’m very concerned, and I want parents to understand what’s readily available on the party scene.
Acid test
While pills are hard to detect, paper acid tabs are even harder. Hardest of all is liquid acid.
Kids bring this nearly odourless fluid to parties in bottles of perfume or mouthwash. It’s so potent, you needn’t drink it. Simply rubbing it onto skin triggers absorption and effect.
I find this particularly frightening.
Party poppers
I’ve also heard from party scene teens that some revellers are buying empty medicine capsules from health shops.
They then mix chopped psychotropic ‘magic’ mushrooms with ground coffee beans to make their own tablets.
Creeping menace
While working a recent 18th birthday with 150+ guests, I was alarmed at the amount of drug activity creeping into what used to be a fairly innocent celebration.
While hard drugs are far more difficult to detect than alcohol, we had warning signs at the start of the night.
These may prove useful if you’re planning a party.
Early warnings
- An unusually high percentage of teenagers had entered the party without alcohol. It turned out they were into other substances.
- The kids who weren’t drinking seemed agitated and their pupils were dilated.
- There was unusual activity around the toilets. This included milling, loitering, pacing, making phone calls and drinking water – all with a stressed or concerned expression.
- When the music started, some teens were extremely hyperactive on the dance floor. Their movements were strange and highly exaggerated. While some tottered around hugging strangers, many danced alone in their altered world.
- The DJ and several parents reported hearing conversations about buying pills.
Raw deal
Thoroughly alerted, my team and I swung into action. When I got the dealer’s name, I recognised it as he was actually on the guest list.
We stopped him from entering the party when we got a look at his enormous pupils. He was very agitated and quickly became aggressive – shouting and abusing parents and staff.
I called the police and tried to reason with this increasingly erratic youth. But when they arrived, he fled straight across a busy highway – narrowly escaping death.
As far as I know, he’s still out there.
Swabs or dogs?
Short of doing forensics or having a sniffer dog at your party, the options to keep drugs out are limited.
The most practical and affordable solution is to have experienced security staff working in cooperation with a diligent parent team to observe any unusual activity.
If you don’t, your special event may well end up in the toilet.
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
