Medication have been being offered like ‘meals at a market’ at a infamous music competition the place a college pupil died after overdosing on MDMA, a coroner has stated.
Former movie pupil Ben Buckfield, 22, died final August after taking Class A drug, MDMA, whereas attending the Boomtown competition in South Downs Nationwide Park, close to Winchester, Hampshire.
Coroner Nicholas Walker stated it’s ‘very worrying’ that drug sellers would wander by way of the competition’s campsites shouting ‘ket, coke, drugs’ as an commercial to revellers.
He additionally raised issues concerning the drug tradition at Boomtown after Ben’s dying made him the fifth particular person to have died on the annual five-day lengthy occasion since its inception in 2009.
Ben’s dad and mom, Georgina and David Buckfield, instructed the inquest that the Hampshire occasion is a ‘harmful, enabling atmosphere’ for younger folks and that ‘it is solely a matter of time earlier than there’s one other dying’.
Ben, who had lately graduated from The College of Winchester, died after struggling a seizure because of consuming 4 drugs of the Class A drug in what was described as a ‘drug bomb’.
Delivering his conclusion, Mr Walker instructed Winchester Coroner’s Court docket:Â ‘It appears to me that probably the most acceptable conclusion I can provide on this case is one in all drug-related dying.
‘I am happy that the MDMA in his system overwhelmed him and he started to have seizures because it took impact.
Ben Buckfield died after overdosing on Class A drug, MDMA, on a scorching day on the Boomtown competition final 12 months
Coroner Nicholas Walker raised issues over the drug tradition on the competition which is held in South Downs Nationwide Park, close to Winchester, Hampshire, yearly
‘Ben took medication into the competition, and bought extra medication contained in the competition. I am happy that he died of the MDMA he bought inside.’Â
Mr Walker referred to proof he heard from Ben’s mates concerning the ‘open and apparent’ sale of medicine within the campsite space.
He stated: ‘I do discover it significantly worrying proof that younger individuals are left alone in campsites and festivals, with out dad and mom or societal pressures, that there are sellers strolling round so recurrently and blatantly.’
The coroner stated that is ‘of concern’ to him and referred to proof he heard that sellers would shout about their merchandise ‘as if it have been meals in a market reasonably than illicit medication’.
Mr Walker added: ‘There was subsequently a prepared provide of medicine for Ben to purchase.’
The coroner stated he was happy that the medical care supplied to Ben by employees onside was ‘completely acceptable’, and commented that he’s happy that the organisers at Boomtown take ‘security significantly’.
Grieving mom Mrs Buckfield, from Saffron Walden, Essex, delivered an announcement forward of the coroner’s conclusion by which she described her son as a ‘wonderful, distinctive human being with an awesome love of life’.
She stated he was ‘passionate’ about films made by director Martin Scorsese, and was a large fan of the TV present Recreation of Thrones.
Ben’s mom, Georgina (pictured), described her son as a ‘wonderful, distinctive human being with an awesome love of life’
Winchester Coroner’s Court docket (above) heard sellers would stroll round campsites shouting ‘ket, coke, drugs’ – all of which have been on provide to revellers on the competition
Mrs Buckfield, from Saffron Walden, Essex, stated her son was ‘effectively learn and keen about politics and historical past, with a selected curiosity in Russian historical past’.
The mom added: ‘Ben beloved his household and mates and would at all times stick up for the underdog. He had his entire life forward of him.
‘I do not need his life outlined by what occurred on that horrible evening at Boomtown Pageant. I do not need extra households and mates going by way of the identical heartbreak we’re enduring.’
Mrs Buckfield stated it’s ‘surprising’ that Ben is the fifth younger particular person to die on the competition.
She added: ‘[If] issues do not change at Boomtown, it is solely a matter of time earlier than there’s one other dying or life-changing harm.
‘We really feel in its current state, Boomtown is a harmful enabling atmosphere for younger weak folks, and classes must be discovered.
‘Ben was an actual human being, not a faceless, invisible ticket holder.’
Boomtown is a competition that’s identified for incorporating rave tradition into its manufacturing.
Boomtown (pictured in 2015) is a competition that’s identified for incorporating rave tradition into its manufacturing
The coroner’s courtroom heard that Ben arrived on the competition on August 8 with a gaggle of mates from college and college. He had been to the competition as soon as earlier than in 2023.
He was seen taking cocaine, ketamine and ingesting alcohol, however his mates stated this was not ‘out of the odd’ at a social occasion.
They stated you possibly can hear folks promoting the sale of medicine each twenty minutes or so within the tent space of the competition.
Ben had introduced some medication into the competition with him and is believed to have purchased some extra from distributors within the two days previous to his dying.
On the Saturday night he arrived in a crowd along with his mates and was ‘profusely sweating’.
He tried to get out of the gang after which began affected by seizures, being put into the restoration place by medics.
Ben was later taken to the competition’s medical tent, earlier than being taken off to hospital, the place he handed away at 3.45am the subsequent day after repeated makes an attempt to avoid wasting him.
His dad and mom, who have been at a marriage in Warwickshire, arrived at round 11:30pm and noticed him in hospital earlier than his dying.
Ben’s dad and mom, Georgina and David Buckfield (pictured) instructed the inquest that ‘it is solely a matter of time earlier than there’s one other dying’ on the competition
His reason behind dying was later confirmed as Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) toxicity.
Addressing the coroner’s courtroom, Mr Walker stated: ‘A lot of folks right here have clearly been completely devastated by the occasions of final 12 months.
‘I remind myself of the phrases of his mum, on behalf of the household, that Ben was a wonderful younger man – humorous, clever and caring – and a life not outlined by that evening.
‘He was a younger man with the world forward of him, having enjoyable at a competition – a ceremony of passage for younger folks in every single place on this nation and overseas.
‘A form, passionate, clever, and attention-grabbing younger man. He was being younger, and as many individuals typically do, made silly selections in the middle of these few days.
‘However, I repeat, and I am positive, that he is not going to be outlined by that evening.’
Mr Walker stated he’ll think about issuing a Prevention of Future Deaths report into Ben’s dying.
