http://www.inthemix.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=134767
Dance drug kills
Keith Moor, Insight editor
18jul05
Insight report
NURSE Belinda Davey became Victoria's first fatal victim of the party drug GHB within hours of smiling for this photo. It was taken as she headed out to celebrate a friend's 21st birthday.
That celebration turned to tragedy when Belinda died in a drug dealer's car outside Melbourne's Pure Hard Dance club after taking a mouthful of GHB.
GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate) sells for as little as $5 a hit and is known on the street as G, juice, grievous bodily harm (GBH), fantasy and liquid E.
Its cheapness makes it the target of schoolchildren and other young people with little money.
Belinda, 21, went from never using illegal drugs to being persuaded to try ecstasy to dying of an overdose in less than a month.
Her parents want other parents and children to learn from their daughter's death.
"My daughter would be alive today if she hadn't been pressured to take ecstasy at a nightclub," Belinda's father told the Herald Sun .
"A month after swallowing that first tablet she was dead of a drug overdose.
"What a tragic waste of a life. Belinda had a good job, a good home, a loving family, lots of friends and was happy and healthy -- she had everything to live for."
Belinda left the Pure Hard Dance club in Bullens Lane, off Russell St, about lunchtime on Saturday, February 19, after partying continuously since the previous night.
Known as PHD, it is a rave recovery venue and day club that opens at 7.30am and closes at 5pm on Saturdays.
It was operating out of the Altitude Bar in Bullens Lane at the time of Belinda's death, but recently moved to bigger premises in the city.
Drug dealers peddle their deadly wares from cars parked nearby.
Evidence suggests Belinda wanted one more ecstasy tablet to keep her going until PHD closed.
Belinda then got into a teenage drug dealer's vehicle in the public car park below the Saville On Russell hotel at 222 Russell St about lunchtime.
Thirsty after a long night of non-stop dancing, Belinda took a swig from a water bottle in the car -- not knowing it contained the colourless and odourless drug GHB.
An off-duty policeman found her dead in the car about six hours later.
"Had those with her taken her to hospital she might still be alive today." Belinda's father said.
"Neither her mother nor I could believe it when police said it was a suspected drug overdose.
"Not our Belinda, we thought. There was never any signs of her being a drug user of any sort, let alone one that would take them to such excess.
"Her death has left a hole in my life that will never be filled. A part of me died with her. Friends have told me I have aged 10 years in the months since her death."
Belinda's tragic death is a stark reminder of the dangerous game of Russian roulette being played by thousands of regular ravers and clubbers.
The danger they face is not having any idea what harmful chemicals are in the pills they are popping and liquids they are drinking.
You could take six ecstasy tablets on a Friday night and have enough energy to rave until dawn.
You could take three on a Saturday night and not feel any different.
You could take one on Sunday and die.
Such is the unpredictability of the ecstasy, GHB and amphetamine-based drugs sweeping Melbourne's dance scene. Police say the use of drugs by clubbers is so widespread -- and accepted as normal by ravers -- that you are just about the odd one out if you don't take them.