20% of the drug samples tested by KnowYourStuff during Re-O Week turned out to be synthetic cathinones (a.k.a. bath salts, a.k.a. a bad time). KnowYourStuff detected nine samples of mephedrone and eight samples of a new, unknown cathinone.
“This unknown cathinone [detected during Re-O Week] is concerning,” said KnowYourStuff spokesperson, Finn Boyle. “We hope it is Eutylone which is not exceptionally dangerous (if people know they have it).” He said that when people take bath salts, thinking they are MDMA, they tend to take too much because bath salts have a low active dose. After taking too much, “they may find themselves awake for days on end which can lead to psychological distress”.
The KnowYourStuff tent, set up at the back of OUSA’s Clubs and Socs building, tested 95 samples of drugs. 70% of the samples were expected to be MDMA. Ten of those samples were total “unknowns” when they were brought to KnowYourStuff, meaning that people had no expectation of what drug was in the caps they brought to the tent.
A second year living on Castle Street reckoned that gear is hard to find at the moment, so people are taking what they can get. She also said the bad gear changed the culture of partying in Re-O. “People were bouncing around a lot more socially because they couldn’t sustain being in a mosh,” she said. “Everyone was saying ‘is it just me or are the vibes really off right now?’”
Emergency services were called earlier in July to assist a 19-year-old student after the MDMA he used contained “high levels of bath salts” and he tried to scratch his eyes out, according to the ODT. “We currently can't confirm whether the novel cathinone we saw a lot of is the same substance which caused the hospitalisation of the student at the start of July,” said Finn.
According to the New Zealand Drug Foundation, ingesting bath salts can induce paranoia, anxiety, and the feeling is distinctive because they ‘drop you’ with a sudden and unpleasant comedown. The comedown can last for two to four days.
According to Critic, ingesting bath salts can induce removing your shirt and aggressively challenging people to beer pong. It doesn’t help that a notable side effect of bath salts is extreme agitation and violent behaviour, so no-one actually wants to play six-cups against you.
Many Dunedin students reported that the MDMA they took made for some terrible nights. A student told Critic that although she trusted the gear she took, her comedown hit her harder than expected. “It was just shit - and way too long … I should have done more research into the drug I was taking.”
Another student said that he ”would hate to think about those who know about MD and its comedowns could still get stitched up by having shit MD”. His experience was fine, and he said his comedown was “textbook, bro”. He holds an ongoing suspicion that he was sold shit MD by some shit dealer. “It just ruins your night for a wee while, if you begin to stress out it can snowball the whole experience into a shitshow.”
“The risks are real and if you don't know exactly what you have, there is no way to use it safely,” Finn said. “Informed choice is key.” It’s all fun and ‘look bro my eyes are dinner plates’ until you need to call an ambulance because the comedown has hit hard.
This is the second year of OUSA’s collaboration with the New Zealand Drug Foundation and KnowYourStuff. “Always great working with KnowYourStuff and NZ Drug Foundation, and appreciate the work they do,” said OUSA’s CEO, Debbie Downs.