what are illicit substances you’d expect to see at a rock concert

G

goidf

Forum Crew Member
Messages
39
Reaction score
0
Points
6
I’m looking for some kind of list of stuff you’d expect to see at a hard rock concert. What would be the S/S to diagnose, and what would be your treatments?
 
Booze & weed. Hard rock fans typically don't do much more than those two. Intoxicated pukers and mosh pit injuries will make up 80% of patients.

\m/ \m/
 
Miley Cyrus
 
KingCountyMedic said:
Booze & weed. Hard rock fans typically don't do much more than those two. Intoxicated pukers and mosh pit injuries will make up 80% of patients.

\m/ \m/
Click to expand...

Agreed. Ive been working at concerts for 8 years on and off and rock concerts typically produce alot of drink and weed, with the odd bit of cocaine abusew every once in a while.

We cover alot of dance music events (rave, techno type of stuff) over here and get alot of overdoses with mdma, ketamine and cocaine to name a few, is it the same stateside?? Or are the concert go-ers more sensible?
 
Merck said:
Miley Cyrus
Click to expand...

Quoted for truth.


I attend a ton of rock concerts, Mostly booze and weed will be the substances found. Most of the injuries you'll probably treat are going to be traumatic from stage dives that fail, mosh pits. and people doing stupid stuff.

I was at the Rockstar Uproar festival 2 years ago, and it was raining earlier that morning, well a group of people decided to start a mud slosh/wrestling pit. most of them left pretty lumped up.

OTOH Raves, are a different breed, I've seen Ecstasy, PCP, various methamphetamines and pills at them.
 
I worked for a company that did medical standby for concerts ranging from metal to hip hop to country. Every crowd is a little different, but the common denominator is always lots of alcohol. The ravers are pretty funny. We called them E-tards because they were all on ecstasy and did some pretty funny stuff. Had one guy whose friends were worried him because he ate some glow sticks to make his mouth glow. Brilliant.
 
Agreed with all of the above. Usually booze is the big one. And the big problem becomes airway management when a 16 year old girl drinks til she's a GCS of 5 and then starts puking. Happy, happy, happy.

I used to work BLS at Seattle's Hemp Fest. Always fun, and full of mellow stoners. Lots of twisted ankles from hackey sack gone bad.
 
We work a concert called Coachella Fest. It has a very wide music range from rock to pop to metal.

We get drunk patients, cocaine, LSD, acid, Molly, weed, Special K (not the cereal), meth, and every other drug that is made.

S/S really vary. We will get everything from altered patients to respiratory arrests and cardiac arrests.
 
DesertEMT66 said:
We work a concert called Coachella Fest. It has a very wide music range from rock to pop to metal.

We get drunk patients, cocaine, LSD, acid, Molly, weed, Special K (not the cereal), meth, and every other drug that is made.

S/S really vary. We will get everything from altered patients to respiratory arrests and cardiac arrests.
Click to expand...


Meth? In the IE?

post-10339-Princess-Bride-Witch-saying-LI-p2dh.gif



For the out of towners, meth is the drug of choice around here.
 
Country - Almost entirely booze and fighting. Seriously.

Rock - Lots of booze, some weed. Depending on the 'flavor' of rock, can also mix in some coke, meth, or similar. Can have mosh and/or crowdsurfing trauma.

Hip-Hop/Rap - Booze, weed, highest number of fights after country

EDM/Techno/Dance - A little less booze, a lot more MDMA/Molly, Acid, Hash, whatever makes the party better/harder/longer. Despite DanceSafe and the like, kids will often take whatever they are offered without a second thought. May often tell you they took one thing, but turns out to be a completely different drug.

Phish - Everything under the sun (but only a few people who can't regulate/maintain)

With any of these, environmental is also a big concern. Dehydration is the most common, but bee stings can be bad depending on the area, and rain/mud can result in absurdly high numbers of broken ankles/legs because everyone wears flip-flops.
 
you guys call it special k too? thought that was just an irish thing! has anyone come across blue ghost before? a couple months back i had a teen go into cardiac arrest after swallowing a fist full. from what we where told its a pretty potent version of extacy cut with something random.

meth hasnt hit these shores yet from what i see, does it really turn people into zombies?
 
emt_irl said:
you guys call it special k too? thought that was just an irish thing! has anyone come across blue ghost before? a couple months back i had a teen go into cardiac arrest after swallowing a fist full. from what we where told its a pretty potent version of extacy cut with something random.

meth hasnt hit these shores yet from what i see, does it really turn people into zombies?
Click to expand...

Meth is an epidemic, and I'm a little surprised you haven't seen it over there yet. Probably the most destructive thing going on in the US right now. I don't know if I'd call tweakers 'zombies', but they can be pretty crazy.
 
I think I just found a reason to move to Ireland.... I could set my own prices and make a killing! :lol:

Less zombie, more troll. I don't commonly have many issues with meth users. Maybe the occasional excited delirium, but that's usually from cocaine. PD probably has more issues with them in the line of burglaries and what-not.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Bath salts is the zombie drug from my encounters... Almost always a bad day with that stuff.
 
WHy not list of what not to expect? ;)
Seriously, good info here.

OP, since the variety is great and the discipline is nonexistent, expect that polypharmacy including alcohol, and the fact that many street drugs are not what they purport to be, will yield many different sets of symptoms.*

For the experienced people, how best to interface with receiving hospitals? Do they want drug samples? Blood or urine or vomitus specimens? Field-started IVs? How much hx etc is expected?
* EDIT: People will even exhibit S/S without active drugs in their systems, or exaggerated S/S with just say moderate ETOH, IF they have been led to expect them.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
mycrofft said:
WHy not list of what not to expect? ;)
Seriously, good info here.

OP, since the variety is great and the discipline is nonexistent, expect that polypharmacy including alcohol, and the fact that many street drugs are not what they purport to be, will yield many different sets of symptoms.*

For the experienced people, how best to interface with receiving hospitals? Do they want drug samples? Blood or urine or vomitus specimens? Field-started IVs? How much hx etc is expected?
* EDIT: People will even exhibit S/S without active drugs in their systems, or exaggerated S/S with just say moderate ETOH, IF they have been led to expect them.
Click to expand...

I usually start off with a good apology to the recieving doc(im sorry but your going to have to deal with this guy), hand over any extra or unused substances that may have appeared from the pockets en route to the ED.
 
emt_irl said:
I usually start off with a good apology to the recieving doc(im sorry but your going to have to deal with this guy), hand over any extra or unused substances that may have appeared from the pockets en route to the ED.
Click to expand...

'Way too civilized for USA. We just slow down and roll them out with a note.

(Sorry, I was talking about the patient's friends!).

Sounds good to me.
 
A "virgin anything".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top