Mum's unusual pledge after daughter dies from MDMA overdose at festival
The mother of a teenager who died after taking illegal drugs before a music festival has pledged to observe other young peoples’ drug taking habits by attending festivals for herself.
Alex Ross-King, aged 19, took nearly three MDMA pills before attending FOMO in Parramatta in January and died later that evening.
Her mother Jen Ross-King has since made it her mission to get inside the world of festivals to gain insight and better understand how future deaths can be prevented.
She will attend Splendour in the Grass in Byron Bay next weekend with the intention of “feeling the vibe” and the medical support available to drug users.
"I can’t protect my girl any more but I’m sure as hell going to try and protect everybody else’s [children]," she told The Sun-Herald.
“I want to get into their world. Anybody who has a teenager or a child, there's a certain aspect of their lives that you don't know about.”
She also hoped to observe the police presence and what harm minimisation services are offered to revellers.
Her proclamation follows the first week of an inquest into drug-related deaths between December 2017 and January 2019, where the deaths of five other individuals will be scrutinised.
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The death of Alex Ross-King, 19, will be investigated alongside Joshua Tam, 22, Callum Brosnan, 19, Joseph Pham, 23, Diana Nguyen, 21, and Nathan Tran, 18.
Ms Ross-King hoped to sit inside a pill-testing tent at a festival like at Groovin the Moo in Canberra, where it was being trialled.
She attended the festival and observed partygoers entering and moving around the grounds, but endeavoured to experience a closer look at the drug scene.
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