Drug Cocktail Kills Young Australian Musician

A young Australian musician has fallen victim to a drug cocktail.

A young Australian musician has fallen victim to a drug cocktail. Daniel Hall, 21, who was found dead in a Hong Kong hotel, had taken a lethal drug cocktail he bought from a doorman at a nearby nightclub.

Hall and another member of the Western Australian Youth Orchestra, Evan Williams, snorted a mixture of cocaine, ketamine and opiates in their room early on December 19, the Sunday Morning Post reported.

Drug Abuse - Psychoactive Substances
Psychoactive drugs affect the central nervous system and act by altering a person's feelings, thoughts and behavior.

The report said the pair were believed to have bought the drugs from a nightclub doorman who gave them the impression they were buying only cocaine.

"Evan went into Dan's room and we believe at some stage earlier the men bought some white powder that they snorted in the room," Ben Burgess, the orchestra's chief executive, told the newspaper.

"Toxicology (tests) revealed it was a bad batch that contained a number of illicit drugs that were considered quite pure... a mix of cocaine, horse tranquilliser -- ketamine. They did a test for opiates, there's obviously heroin or morphine in some form within it as well."

International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking
To marshal worldwide support for the control of drugs, the 26th of June every year is devoted to the cause, known as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The drugs, some of which were found by police in a package on a bedside table, left Hall dead and Williams fighting for his life in hospital. Williams has since recovered and is now with his family in Perth, the report said.

A spokesman for the police refused to confirm the report.

Drug Abuse Screening Test
Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST) is a screening test to find out if you need professional help with ‘Drug Abuse’ problem. This is only an anonymous self test.

"Preliminary findings of our post-mortem examination show there is no injury on the body of the deceased. We need to await the results of our further investigation to determine the cause of his death," the spokesman told AFP.

Hall, an oboe player, and Williams, a trombonist, had been on tour with the orchestra for a series of concerts in Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau.

Celebrity Drug Users Sending Wrong Signals to Young People: UN
Letting celebrities get away with drug crimes is sending out the wrong message to 'impressionable' young people, a UN report warned Wednesday.

The rest of the tour was cancelled and all 75 musicians have returned to Perth, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Source-Medindia
GPL