After drug overdose at Seattle rave, doctor warns of 'bad batch'

SEATTLE — A popular rave event in Seattle was cancelled Saturday night after a man who had attended the event overdosed on the drug “Molly” and died.

Dr. Alexander Garrard with Washington Poison Center told KIRO 7 that a man in his 20’s overdosed from the drug “Molly” after attending FreakNight on Friday night.

Another person who attended the same event overdosed on the same drug and is hospitalized in critical condition as of Saturday evening, according to Garrard.

The website for the event has since been shutdown, but KIRO 7 saw they called it the "longest running Halloween Dance Festival in the nation” before the website stopped working.

The Seattle Fire Department confirmed that 16 people had to be taken to Harborview Medical Center from the event Friday night. Six of them were in serious condition and suspected of drug use.

Police notified organizers around 4:00 p.m., who then decided to cancel Saturday night's continuation of festivities.

“Molly” is often described as “pure ecstasy,” Garrard said, but in reality it’s never a consistent mixture from batch to batch.

"I describe this drug use as playing chemical Russian roulette. When you think about it, it's just a matter of time before you have a bad outcome,” said Garrard.

Organizers of FreakNight posted this statement to their Facebook page on Saturday night:

“Unfortunately there are unconfirmed reports of a fatality associated with FreakNight Festival. Out of an abundance of caution, late on Saturday a decision was made to cancel the second night of the event.

The health and safety of all our attendees is our top priority. These reports are very unfortunate and we are deeply saddened at the possibility of them being true.

We are working with all local authorities to confirm these reports.

Information on refunds will be available on Monday."

On Sunday, USC Events issued an official statement: “On Nov. 1, news media reported that a Friday night attendee of the annual two-day FreakNight festival at CenturyLink Field died after being transported from the venue. USC Events became aware of this alleged incident just before 4 p.m. on Saturday. After discussing the situation with USC Events, CenturyLink Field decided to cancel the second night of the show just before 6 p.m.”

USC Events said on Sunday they had no official information on the incident. They offered condolences to the involved families, and said ‘safety is the top priority’ at all of their events.

KIRO