Woodbridge teen dies after drug overdose at Maryland music festival
http://www.insidenova.com/headlines/woodbridge-teen-dies-after-drug-overdose-at-maryland-music-festival/article_cfd35f3a-1b76-11e4-b3b2-001a4bcf887a.html
A Woodbridge teen died Sunday evening after an apparent mass drug overdose at a music festival in Maryland.
Police have not released the boy’s name, but identified him as a 17-year-old from Woodbridge. Friends identified the teenager as a rising senior at Hylton High School.
A 20-year-old Raleigh, N.C., man also died after an apparent drug overdose at Friday's Mad Decent Block Party 2014 at Merriwether Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md. In all 20 festival-goers were hospitalized, according to Howard County police.
The man who died, Tyler Fox Viscardi, 20, did not appear to have known the Woodbridge teen, police said.
Police said they believe the most widely used drug at the event was MDMA, popularly known as ecstasy or Molly.
MDMA is a synthetic, psychoactive drug that has similarities to stimulants and hallucinogens, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. It can cause increases in heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature.
The Mad Decent Block Party festival travels the country, and had a show in Norfolk on Sunday and one scheduled for Los Angeles on Monday.
“Investigators have learned that other venues have seen similar circumstances at these events,” Howard County police said in a news release.
In a post on Mad Decent’s Twitter page, organizers made a brief statement out this weekend’s deaths.
“Our hearts go out to everyone impacted by yesterday’s event. We are saddened by the news, Aug 02.”
Merriweather Post Pavilion also issued a statement, saying drugs are an epidemic “everywhere.”
“As a parent, it makes me horribly sad beyond words to think of a tragedy like this,” said Seth Hurwitz, chairman of I.M.P. Productions, the company that operates Merriweather Post Pavilion.
“We can spend every minute of the day making perfect sense to our children regarding the obvious perils of drugs, but sometimes it is impossible to convince them that this is relevant to their world. Youth feel invulnerable. Some refuse to believe they could be affected.”
Police are awaiting autopsy and toxicology results from the medical examiner's office to confirm the exact cause of death.