Travellers critically ill in Australia after snorting ‘truth serum’ drug they thought was cocaine
Foreign backpackers divided powder up and snorted it, then became paralysed and could not scream for help
Nine foreign backpackers, including five from France, were rushed to hospital in various states of “agitated delirium” after ingesting a travel sickness drug they mistook for cocaine and falling seriously ill, Australian authorities and reports said.
Three of them – two French and one German – remained in hospital Thursday after paramedics were called to a house in the Perth suburb of Victoria Park Tuesday night.
The seven men and two women aged between 21-25 took the drug Hyoscine and fell into an unconscious or semi-conscious state, Western Australia Police said.
Royal Perth Hospital emergency doctor David McCutcheon said late Wednesday the trio were “still in a critical condition”.
“Several of these people would have died I’m pretty sure without medical intervention,” he told The West Australian newspaper, adding that the nine were brought to hospital “in a state of agitated delirium”.
“They were hallucinating, their hearts were racing, several of them had to be put in a medically induced coma for their own protection and I really need to emphasise how seriously unwell they were.”