Police Warning After Rock Ness Drug Death

Police warned the crowd about the dangers of drugs after a teenager died after collapsing in the main stage area on the final night of Rock Ness in Scotland.

Alex Herriot, 19, was taken to Raigmore Hospital but failed to respond to treatment.

“Early indications are that the man may have consumed drugs and this is one of the lines of inquiry at this stage,” a police spokesman said, confirming that a 19-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man were also being treated after taking “legal highs.”

They are believed to have been in the same party as the man who died and police are investigating whether they taken a substance known as “Benzo Fury,” a drug readily available through various Internet sites. It’s often described as a drug being produced “for research purposes.”

“Legal highs does not mean safe, and customers should not go anywhere near these dangerous substances,” Rockness chief Jim King told BBC News.

He said festivalgoers should heed the advice given to them by health professionals and the police, and “stay safe by avoiding drugs of any kind.”

In 2007 a 39-year-old man visiting the festival died after being found unconscious in his car. The following year, an 18-year-old died at the festival after found unconscious in front of the main stage. Both deaths were believed to be drug-related.

The festival, which is on the shores of Loch Ness, Scotland, attracted a 30,000 crowd June 8-10. Northern Constabulary said that 144 of them had been arrested for drug possession and one for dealing.

The problem with legal highs is that they tend to get past drug-sniffing dogs, which aren’t trained to detect legal substances. The police said that so far no other Benzo Fury has been found.

Toxicology tests will have to be carried out to discover if the any substance or mixture was involved in the teenager’s death. It normally takes two to three weeks to get the results.

Police have also named two men killed in a road crash involving a bus taking people to the festival. A van driver and passenger died in the accident on the A9 at Ralia, southwest of Newtonmore. They were Mark McFarlane and Barry Murray, who were both from Glasgow.

The Rock Ness lineup included Mumford & Sons, Deadmau5, Biffy Clyro, Ed Sheeran, Justice, and Noah & The Whale.