Pubdate: Sun, 05 Sep 1999
Source: Sunday Telegraph (Australia)
Contact:  2 Holt Street Surry Hills, NSW, 2010
Fax: (02) 9288-2300
Author: Sarah Harris

DEAD CLUBBER TOOK ECSTASY

Toxicology tests showed there were significant levels of ecstasy in
22-year-old Michael Overton's system when he died.

The Sunday Telegraph understands Michael is at least the third young person
in Sydney this year to test positive to ecstasy after death.

The final-year apprentice chef collapsed on the dance floor of the Sublime
nightclub on July 17.

The subsequent investigation led police to uncover evidence that a number of
other people in the club had been violently ill after taking drugs.

A number of vials of blue nitro, or gamma-hydroxybutyrate, were found on the
premises.

While the cause of Michael's death is yet to be determined and is likely to
be the subject of a coronial inquiry, sources say the level of drugs in his
blood was very high.

With summer and the dance party season coming on, this has raised questions
about the quality of ecstasy being manufactured in backyard laboratories.

Earlier this year a young man died in Sydney's west after taking a single
ecstasy tablet while out with friends to celebrate a buck's night.

Tests showed the drug poisoned him.

Ecstasy combined with a prescriptive anti-depressant was also nominated as
the likely cause of the fatal brain hemorrhage suffered by a Sydney secretary. 

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