1 dead, dozens sickened from overdose at Gorge Amphitheatre’s festival

A man remains missing and a drug overdose victim died over the weekend at the Gorge Amphitheater while dozens of other concertgoers were sickened after taking a potent mixture of a drug called “Molly.”

Several patients, including the one who died, were taken to the medical center in Wenatchee overnight Friday while others were treated at other nearby hospitals, Steve Dickens, house supervisor at Central Washington Hospital, said. He declined to provide further details early Monday.

“Molly,” short for molecule, is promoted as Ecstacy or a purer form of MDMA, but is actually far more powerful and commonly mixed with other drugs.

“Molly” has grown increasingly popular in the last few years, especially with concert goers. Medical experts say they are seeing increasing numbers of patients hospitalized for overdoses, because the powerful chemical is often mixed with methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, bath salts or other drugs.

Between 2004 and 2009, there was a 123 percent increase in MDMA-related emergency room visits, according to DrugFree.org.

“It’s really scary seeing something like that because you can’t do anything,” says Michael Simeona, who saw a number of people collapsing during the Paradiso Festival.

Simeona says he and several friends tried to help one man who was “clearly on something.”

“There was one guy who was like 6-foot-6, just stumbling all over the place and just fell into a group of people and tried getting up.”

They tried to get him to stay put, but he wouldn’t listen. “His eyes were all over the place, with just this blank stare. It was scary,” Simeona says.

At one point, the victim collapsed again and was conscious, but wasn’t responding to anything.

“My friend tried to get him to drink water, but he couldn’t even drink.”

Medics ultimately rushed to the man’s aid, along with dozens of others that were seemingly “collapsing all over,” according to Simeona.

All of the patients were initially rushed to Quincy Valley Medical Center and other hospitals. The most seriously-ill, including the man who died of an apparent overdose, were transported to Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee.

Sarina Fahrner, the chief nursing officer at Quincy Valley Medical Center, says the hospital commonly treats patients with drug overdoses since they are the closest facility to the Gorge. But she says this weekend’s incident was the worst they’ve ever seen.

The name of the man who died has not been released.

More than 25,000 people attended the sold-out, two-day Paradiso Festival, which features dozens of electronic music performances.

An autopsy was scheduled Monday on a 21-year-old Des Moines man, said Chelan County Coroner Wayne Harris. The man died Sunday at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee. His name was not released.

He was one of seven people from the music festival who were taken to the hospital. Three remained in serious condition, said Kathy Hamilton, director of community relations.

Quincy Valley Medical Center, the closest hospital to the amphitheater, treated and released about 70 other concert-goers in its emergency room from Thursday through Sunday, spokeswoman Michele Wurl said, with at least 40 related to drugs and alcohol. The small, rural hospital has no intensive care unit and serious cases were transferred.

“We deal with the Gorge all summer long,” Wurl said. “What we’re seeing this year is much higher acuity — more severe — in the drug use,”

Deputies handled 62 calls for service at the Paradiso Festival and arrested 23 people for various charges, including possession or delivery of controlled substances, trespassing, obstructing a public servant, assault and disorderly conduct, the Grant County sheriff’s office said in a statement. The concert promoter contracts with the sheriff’s office to supplement security.

The number of arrests is not unusual for a concert at the Gorge, said Undersheriff Dave Ponozzo.

“Most in attendance were very respectful people to us and to one another,” Ponozzo said in an email. “I found them to be very social people, many of who went out of their way to thank us for being there.”

Most of the audience stays at a campground on the site overlooking the Columbia River about 120 miles east of Seattle.

The promoters of the festival issued a statement Monday:

Live Nation and USC Events were co-producers of the Paradiso Festival at the Gorge Amphitheatre on June 28th-29th and are committed to bringing people together to experience music in a safe environment. For this event, we worked with the local Sherriff’s Department to have a sub-station located at the onsite campgrounds and other first responders to help ensure the venue had appropriate security.

During the festival, we entertained more than 25,000 fans over two days. In those two days, about 50 total fans were transported via ambulance to area hospitals for a variety of medical issues ranging from heat exhaustion to unfortunately what appears to be drug overdoses.

We wish to express our deep concern about reports regarding a 21-year-old man who died at Central Washington Hospital over the weekend. We extend our sympathy to his family.

Because this is an active investigation, we must defer questions to the Grant County Sheriff’s Department.

Meanwhile, a 20-year-old Seattle man reported missing after the concert has been located and is with his family, according to the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.