After Boonstock, 80 end up in B.C. hospital as music festival safety questioned

Drugs have been a part of the music festival scene since before warnings about the bad acid at Woodstock in 1969, and so has death, since the organizers decided to hire the Hells Angels for security at Altamont, California, later that year.

But this season's round of festivals seems to have been hit pretty hard in both categories.

Some 80 people attending Boonstock in the Okanagan resort town of Penticton, B.C., last weekend ended up in the local emergency ward and one woman died of a drug overdose.

Last month, a young Regina man was found dead in his tent at the Pemberton Music Festival north of Vancouver. An investigation ruled out foul play, CBC News said, but police are awaiting results of tests done during the autopsy to determine why he had died.

And a probe is underway by Ontario's Special Investigations Unit after an unruly, possibly intoxicated man handcuffed by police at the VELD electronic music festival near Toronto suddenly died, according to CBC News.

[ Related: Officers warn about drug use after woman dies at Penticton music festival ]

But the casualty list at Boonstock, which wrapped up Sunday night, seems especially notable.

Interior Health Authority spokeswoman Grace Kucey told Yahoo Canada News the number of patients from the festival filling the emergency room at Penticton Regional Hospital by Monday morning had reached 80.

A 24-year-old woman from Leduc, Alta, died. The RCMP said in a news release police responded to an overdose report around 1 a.m. Saturday.

Boonstock organizers did not respond Monday to an email request from Yahoo Canada News about the death. The festival posted a notice on its Facebook page Saturday afternoon explaining the woman "became distressed" while dancing at one of the festival stages.

"We are deeply saddened by this news and we know that our communities will band together and keep her and her loved ones in our thoughts," the statement said.

"The culture of a music festival is one that provides a place where everyone belongs, is welcomed and watches out for one another."

Apparently not.

Responding to the organizers' statement, a comment purporting to be from someone who discovered the stricken woman said she was lying face-down in the sand and people were walking around her.

"I couldn't believe how many people were around her with no concern," said the woman, who with the help of another festival-goer got the woman to paramedics.

The stream of casualties seemed to grow over the weekend. Kucey said 17 people were taken to hospital from 7 a.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday, another 26 in the next 24-hour period, and 37 more by 7 a.m. Monday.

"We weren’t aware of how many numbers we might see coming in," said Kucey. "What we did want to do was make sure we were prepared for additional people coming in to the hospital. Those numbers were above our average.”

The Penticton ER sees about 100 people per day for various ailments on a normal summer weekend, she said.

The Mounties warned dehydration in the hot, dry conditions at the festival's lakefront venue, located on First Nations land, along with mixing drugs and booze, increased the risk of an overdose.

"When people mix drug and alcohol use, dehydration can be a factor as well for overdose," Kucey agreed.

[ Related: Regina resident ID'd as man found dead at Pemberton Music Festival ]

Boonstock came to Penticton under a cloud. It was kicked out of the venue near Edmonton it had used the previous nine years after complaints from residents about drugs, violence and vandalism, the Edmonton Sun reported.

The B.C. Liquor Control Board refused to give a liquor licence to Boonstock, which had Bacardi as a sponsor. The company hired to handle security bailed out a month ago and employees of the firm that replaced it allegedly were caught by a security camera trying to shoplift booze from a liquor store. The store posted the footage on its Facebook page.

Access to water also apparently was an issue at the festival site, according to Castanet. Festival-goers were not allowed to bring in their own water, reportedly out of concern the containers might hold booze. Bottled water reportedly cost $3 to $4.

"I've yet to see one [water station] and no one can tell me the exact location of them," festival-goer Cole Pethybridge told Castanet. "It's ridiculous that the only option is to buy water for $3."