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Woman Dies of Reported Drug Overdose at Sydney's Stereosonic Festival

UPDATE: Following the death in Sydney, 19-year-old Stefan Woodward​ has died from a suspected drug overdose at the Stereosonic music festival in Adelaide​.

UPDATE [Tuesday, December 8th] : Following the death in Sydney, Australian ABC reports that this weekend, 19-year-old Stefan Woodward has died from a suspected drug overdose at the Stereosonic music festival in Adelaide. He died Saturday in the Royal Adelaide Hospital.


Stereosonic is an iconic Australian electronic music festival held annually in multiple cities: Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Sydney, and Melbourne, since the year 2007. For long its been a beloved event in the continent, bringing everyone from EDM stars like Calvin Harris, to underground kings like the late DJ Mehdi, Marco Carola, Jeff Mills, and Ricardo Villalobos. At this year's Sydney festival however, tragedy struct the event which occurred on Saturday November 28 and drew 45,000 attendees, as 25-year old Oyster Bay resident Sylvia Choi passed away from what officials believe was a drug overdose, reports the Daily Telegraph. She is believed to have taken an ecstasy tablet and may have also taken MDMA mixed into a bottle of water.

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A 22-year old British tourist was also put in an induced coma at the festival due to "bad reaction to drugs", and has since been discharged from the hospital.

The Telegraph further reports that nine patrons were rushed to hospital and another 120 were treated for the effects of drugs. More than 200 police were on duty at the festival.

In the last twelve months, this is the fifth music festival-related drug death in the state. "There is no such thing as safe drugs. You are playing Russian roulette with your life," said Assistant Commissioner Frank Mennilli. "People have to get out of the mentality that you have to take drugs to enjoy a concert."

Australian media outlet 9 News reports that Sidney-based Dr Alex Wodak, who is president of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation and director of the Alcohol and Drug Service at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital, has proposed that drug testing facilities be installed on-site at music festivals, so that patrons can know for sure what they are ingesting.

Read more here and here.

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