Medetomidine is a powerful non-opioid sedative typically used by veterinarians on large animals. MANDRAKE warns that when combined with ketamine, the mixture is likely to cause “extreme prolonged sedation, which could prove fatal.” The organization also highlighted the serious non-fatal risks, including “sexual assault and robbery,” associated with this level of sedation.

Medetomidine is chemically similar to xylazine, another veterinary tranquilliser sometimes found in contaminated ketamine, but is reportedly 200 times more potent.

Harm Reduction Advice

MANDRAKE advises users to take the following precautions:

• Test the Drug: Users should test ketamine with medetomidine test strips before use.
• Dose Cautiously: Wait “at least an hour“ after taking a very small initial bump before consuming any more.

If someone is suspected of taking contaminated ketamine and becomes unconscious, it is critical to contact a medical or welfare professional immediately. Ensure their airways are unblocked and place them in the recovery position until help arrives. See more in the below embedded, recommendations which come directly from MANDRAKE.

*Cover image credit: Ocean Recovery

[H/T] Mixmag

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Located at Carson Creek Ranch, on October 25th and 26th, the festival gathered a star-studded lineup of EDM heavyweights in House and Bass. Headliners include Cloone, Gryffin, Kaskade, LP Giobbi, Martin Garrix, Svdden Death, Flux Pavilion, Kasablanca, Max Styler, and more.

Wicked Storms

During the early morning hours of Friday, October 24th, the official Wicked Oaks socials released a statement. It explained that, due to warnings from local authorities and the National Weather Service, they would be delaying camping entry until further notice. However, by the afternoon, they released yet another statement. It explained that, due to severe overnight weather, the campground would not open that day. On a positive note, the festival is offering reimbursements for campers who have to find alternate, reasonable accommodations for Friday. This is a rare instance where the organizers are willing to refund an extra expense for attendees.

Furthermore, they’re continuously tracking the situation. They claim they’re aiming at opening camping tolls on Saturday, the 25th at 8 am. Wicked Oaks now joins the list of festivals that have fallen victim to Mother Nature. Most recently, Bonnaroo Festival canceled the remainder of its weekend events after day one.

Wicked Oaks

The Texas-rooted event company Disco Presents brings forth Wicked Oaks. This is a collaboration of three EDM giants in the Texas scene. Freaky Deaky, Illfest, and Summoning of the Eclipse are all taking over a stage each. They provide listeners with a new and vibrant experience. The forest folklore-inspired event is just minutes away from Downtown Austin by the Colorado River. The Carson Creek Ranch is the perfect venue for a wicked weekend. It’s filled with 58 acres of history.

This is a developing story.

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Test results from various batches of pills — Pink Timberlands, Purple Louis Vuittons and Purple Pop Smokes — revealed that one in four pills contained significantly more MDMA than a typical adult dose. In fact, double the standard adult dose, which means 200mg of the substance.

Fabric nightclub in London has also issued a statement urging patrons to prioritize their health and seek assistance if they feel unwell. The club’s welfare team is available to provide support and advice. “Significantly raised temperature, excessive sweating, muscle rigidity, and non-responsiveness or seizure” are all symptoms to be aware of.

“A typical heavy/strong dose is around 200mg“, Fabric say, “but some of these pills are reported to contain over 300mg which creates a strong overdose risk. If in doubt, please don’t take it“.

In recent months, The Loop has issued multiple warnings about the strength of drugs circulating in the UK. They launched the UK’s first regular drug-checking service in January and have alerted the public to concerns about counterfeit benzos and strong MDMA pills.

[H/T] DJ Mag

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It’s not called the City Of The Fury for nothing! Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina, is known for its fairly unpredictable weather. Even though the streets are prepared with a tremendous drainage underground system and can comfortably bear the heavy rain the city experiences every now and then, events are not dealt with lightly, and are often evaluated with caution in mind.

The National Meteorological Service of said country issued an Orange Alert for the city for Friday afternoon, under the very likely happening of an intense thunderstorm that could make its way through the capital. Under these circumstances, it’s strongly advised that open-air events are cancelled, or moved to a later date, not precisely because some might find getting soaked slightly uncomfortable, but primarily because of the threat these phenomena pose. Buenos Aires is known for how fiery its storms become, carrying thunder, lightning, and very strong winds. Check it out for yourself! These are images from yesterday.

Afterlife BA: Postponed

One of the events that would have taken place Friday night in Buenos Aires was the returning gig of Melodic Techno iconic imprint Afterlife. Having landed around this time last year for their Argentinian debut, they were coming back for more. Nature said otherwise.

Even though the show was cancelled for the original Friday date, Afterlife made an announcement in their Instagram Stories, that they’d be postponing the event. Fortunately, for those who travelled to BA for the show, there’s still hope: the new date is this very Sunday, March 10th.

Read the announcement in full below:

Final Words

It seems to be that, for now, Buenos Aires can let out a sigh of relief, as the situation was handled very swiftly. As fast as rain comes in BA, it may go away. For all we know, Sunday may just be the bluest, sunniest, shiniest day ever, inviting ravers to enjoy the spectacle of Tale Of Us, MRAK, Dixon, 19:26, and Ubbah. It’s one of the things that make that place so special. Take that from me.

The post Afterlife Buenos Aires Postponed Due To Compromising Weather appeared first on EDMTunes.

The now-sold-out Electric Picnic Music and Arts Festival will be hosting around 70,000 music lovers and will showcase an array of artists such as Niall Horan, Billie Eilish, The Killers, Fred again.., 999999999, I Hate Models, Trym, and Overmono. For the first time, the event will collaborate with the HSE in the Safer Nightlife Programme. The program will focus on harm prevention through 70 HSE-trained volunteers, five drug-surrender bins, drug tents at three separate locations within festival grounds, and an on-site lab for drug testing and real-time results.

Harm Prevention

The HSE national clinical lead for addiction services, Prof Eamon Keenan, has expressed that Electric Picnic will provide 30 hours of harm reduction support services for ticket holders. They plan to have visible alerts across the festival regarding drugs of concern to inform concertgoers in real-time. Moreover, the organization was present at the Life and Body and Soul Festivals earlier this summer with a high success rate. Besides reducing harm from drug use, the HSE also wants to obtain samples from drugs through the bins located at festivals to have a better understanding of the drugs that are circling the nightlife in Ireland, and as a result, spread awareness of the volatility and unpredictable strength of each pill or powders.

The New Drug

Within the last two years, the organization shared that they found seven different drugs that were not in Ireland before. As of most recently, “pink cocaine”, or “Tuci”.

Although Tuci made its way to Europe recently, the substance’s origin traces back to Colombia. The dangers of Tuci rely on the mystery of what’s in the powder. It’s a combination of different drugs like ketamine and MDMA. There are also possible traces of methamphetamines or fentanyl. Through lab testing, the HSE plans on continuing its campaign to further understand the drug market in Ireland and increase harm prevention resources year-long with the help of participating events and venues.

“As Minister, I would encourage many people attending the festival to be wary of their dangers of using drugs, to engage with the HSE Staff and volunteers for information and support about drug use, and to look out for updates about drug trends of concern on the big screens and on the Electric Picnic App.”

-Irish Minister Naughton, Minister for Public Health, Well being and National Drug Strategy

The HSE has similar strategies to what other organizations in the U.S. promote for harm reduction at festivals. For more information on harm reduction and partying safely, please visit the following websites: End Overdose, HSE’s latest statement, and DanceSafe.

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Challenges After the Warnings

When the Berlin drug test program began, its goal was to reduce excessive drug abuse, as well as to conduct research on drug consumption in the German capital. Some of the most well-known drugs that were studied in this program were ecstasy, cocaine, LSD, speed, and much more. Furthermore, because of the sensitivity of this program, there were about 380 potential users that had been rejected. The approved users range from people who take daily doses to people who take them at parties, raves, concerts, and music festivals.

Addiction consultants and scientists alike conduct examinations on the drugs to determine how dangerous the drugs can become (depending on the level of dosage). The Berlin drug test program’s strong emphasis on anonymity can encourage more potential volunteers to take part in the program, especially since it’s also free. One potential impact that this program can bring out would be more public knowledge on how strong certain drugs can become, especially on how much someone consumes them. The more knowledge one has about the effects of a certain drug, the more they can motivate their fellow ravers/concertgoers/festival attendees to take things in moderation.

The post Berlin Drug Test Program Issued Warnings to Nearly 50% of Drugs appeared first on EDMTunes.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR: 

The dangerous bottles in question can be identified by three simple factors. There is less bubbling. The liquid smells like licorice or anisette. And the color is closer to a reddish-brown than a champagne straw. The liquid will also darken and solidify over time. 

Deadly High Concentration Dose

MDMA in small doses is not lethal, and even in large doses, it is not often thought of as a deadly drug. However the difference between a drug, a medicine, and a poison is dosage. And these Moët bottles were said to have over a 100 grams of MDMA inside. Authorities are suggesting that a single sip is about 1000 times the amount of a recreational dose. While these numbers were not verified in a laboratory, it is absolutely true that these bottles have an incredibly high concentration of MDMA, and even a small sip could be fatal.

Harald Georg Z, was out at a restaurant with friends in Weiden, Germany. He is now passed at 52. Seven other Germans were hospitalized; and in the Netherlands, four people became seriously ill. 

According to a newspaper in Malta, they believe that drug smugglers are behind this spiking. The bottles were likely emptied and replaced with liquid MDMA. A lot of this is still under investigation and speculative. But let’s bring it back to what we have control of as individuals. Remember to be careful out there. There was talk recently at Okeechobee Festival, that an individual was selling recreational drugs laced with Fentanyl. So when you’re out there… take a moment, make sure you know what you’re doing when you’re doing it. Please. 

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For those who abide in this activity, the standard MDMA dose is 70-125mg. These new ‘Q-Dance’ pills are said to contain up to 268mg of MDMA, relatively higher than what most MDMA pills usually have. Therefore, it makes sense that the six deaths linked to Q-dance are reported to have been cause by MDMA overdose.

Although this page does not encourage any kind of illegal activity, being informed is the first step to being safe. A high MDMA dose like ‘Q-Dance’ can have very dangerous consequences if taken lightly.

The Department of Poisons in South Wales stated the consumption of high doses of MDMA can lead to potential hazards. Participating in this kind of activity can cause serious illness, paranoia, agitation, and even heart rhythm problems or death. Be safe out there, and if you are not a veteran, better beware of this pill.

H/t: Daily Mail

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Drug use is often a controversial topic within the dance scene, with ravers constantly divided by their support or opposition to substances. If you’re one of the proponents of experience-enhancing pills, the most important thing to remember is to use safely.

In steps to promote the safety of event attendees, the Trimbos Institute in Holland has issued a red-alert warning regarding the recent circulation of a pill being falsely labeled as ecstacy.

The dangerous pill, which is pink and stamped with the Superman logo, has been found to contain a high dosage of Paramethoxymethamphetamine (PMMA), and not MDMA as it’s been marketed, according to tests run by the Drugs Information and Monitoring System.

The Trimbos warning explains PMMA differs from MDMA in that its effects are not felt until much later. They can first feel like a low dosage of MDMA, but then severe physical side-effects can also occur.

“Hours after a dose of PMMA is ingested, severe physical effects such as increased heart rate and extremely elevated body temperature may suddenly occur,” the release says.

Other side-effects may include liver and kidney failure.

The Institute warns drug-users to stay far, far away from this potentially lethal drug that killed four users in 2015.

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Slander & NIGHTMARE- Warning  (Boombox Cartel Remix)

Slander and NGHTMRE are two names that are notoriously associated with one another. Whether it is a new release or even a remix, the collaborative trinity is always responsible for producing tracks that emphasize their bass heavy roots. Just over two months ago, Los Angeles natives and good friends NGHTMRE and Slander released their collaborative track ‘Warning‘ which would later become available on Slander’s most recent EP, Nuclear Bonds. The track was a lucrative followup to the trio’s release ‘Gud Vibrations’, which also emblazons their intense bass and trap sounds.

Slander and NGHTMRE’s vivid track ‘Warning’ has just recently been remixed by fellow Los Angeles residents, Boombox Cartel. Boombox Cartel are a genre defying duo that have recently been featured on OWSLA‘s Spring Compilation 2015. ‘Warning’ (Boombox Cartel Remix) encompasses prominent elements of hard hitting trap, a signature accent of the duo. However, Boombox Cartel actively made the decision to expand their realm of familiarity and experiment with a tempo range never before used by the duo, in addition to exploring thematic and cinematic elements that compile to produce yet another trap infused track. Check out ‘Warning’ (Boombox Cartel Remix) below and let us know what you think!

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