Drug used by cosmonauts may have caused Queensland students' overdose

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/feb/23/banned-anti-anxiety-drug-phenibut-may-have-caused-gold-coast-students-overdose

Version 0 of 1.

An anti-anxiety and insomnia drug once given to Soviet cosmonauts could be responsible for the overdose of seven teenagers at a Queensland private school.

The year 10 students at St Stephen’s college on the Gold Coast were taken to hospital on Wednesday, with some in a critical condition, after ingesting a powdered drug.

While the results of toxicology reports have not yet been released, police are investigating reports the students took the drug Phenibut, which they may have bought on the dark web.

Phenibut, which was used to reduce stress in cosmonauts on space flights, cannot be legally sold in Australia and was this month made a schedule nine banned substance due to reports of significant toxicity.

Dr David Caldicott, an emergency consultant and senior clinical lecturer in medicine at the Australian National University, said Phenibut is readily available online and would be easy to buy for anyone with access to the internet and online payment methods.

“I would not for a second speculate that this was being sold on street corners in little baggies by members of motorcycle gangs,” Caldicott said. “I would be absolutely convinced this was acquired over the internet. Of course, it might have been passed on to the students by someone else who bought it online.”

The Courier Mail reported police believe the students took multiple doses of the drug over a number of hours leading to dizziness, nausea and a gradual slowing of bodily functions.

Students reportedly filmed themselves taking the drug and the subsequent effects on Snapchat.

Side effects of Phenibut include sedation, drowsiness, delirium and nausea. At high doses it can lead to loss of motor coordination. The effects of the drug are similar to GHB, or fantasy, which is used recreationally, and has also been used as a date rape drug.

Caldicott said there have been cases of Phenibut overdose in Australia and, given the reported symptoms, he would not be at all surprised if the toxicology report confirmed the students had taken it.

“There are increasing case reports globally about Phenibut,” he said. “It’s definitely a thing that’s simmering underneath the radar but it’s not yet causing extensive medical harm as far as we know.”

He said multiple overdoses of the same drug as a result of young people experimenting together was “the new norm”.

Three students have been released from hospital, while the remaining four have reportedly recovered well and could be released on Friday.

Police are working with Australian Border Force and the Queensland drug squad to find out how the students got the drug.

In a letter to parents, the school’s headmaster Jamie Dorrington said it had been “a particularly distressing and emotional time” for the community and that counselling would be available for students who needed it.