DESIGNER DRUG PUTS PARTYGOERS IN COMAS

Three people were found unconscious in an Auckland nightclub after taking
designer drug Fantasy, whose growing popularity is worrying police

The three, who were at the Power Station at a weekend party that followed
the Erotica Expo, were found in the toilets in drug-induced comas.

A woman and a man, both in their early 20s, were revived at Auckland
Hospital and discharged. Another woman was admitted to intensive care in a
critical condition. She was later revived and discharged.

Police have investigated the incident and will lay no charges. Senior
Sergeant Tony Leighton said he was worried about the growing popularity of
Fantasy.

Users of Fantasy, an aphrodisiac drug also known as GHB and liquid Ecstasy,
experience extreme euphoria before falling into a deep low.

The drug can induce comas, inhibit breathing and trigger seizures and
vomiting. It has been linked with deaths overseas.

"When taken in a situation like a dance party it's very dangerous, a lot of
people just don't know what they're doing," Mr Leighton said.

Police said Fantasy had recently emerged as the "drug of choice" on the
nightclub scene, partly because word was spreading that it was not illegal.
However, possession of the drug without a prescription was illegal under
the Medicines Act.

Auckland intensive-care specialist Tony Smith said after a spate of
admissions late last year that it was clearly a dangerous drug, despite
perceptions that it was not harmful.

Power Station manager Paul Walker and organisers of the expo after-party,
which was open to the public, refused to comment on the incident. Expo
organiser Steve Crow said he was "absolutely livid" that the erotica
exhibition had been connected to the drugs scandal. He had no control over
the party.

"We went to a huge amount trouble to keep the expo squeaky-clean," he said.

More than 16,000 people tended the expo during the weekend.