An 18-year-old woman has died from a suspected drug overdose in Leeds, the second such death in the city over the bank holiday weekend.
West Yorkshire police said the teenager was taken to hospital after collapsing at the Warehouse club in the city centre in the early hours of Monday. Officers were notified by Leeds General Infirmary at 3.18am and she died a short time later, the force said.
A 19-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs and remained in police custody on Monday.
DI Amanda Wimbles of Leeds CID said: “Taking illegal substances is incredibly dangerous and I would urge anyone considering doing so to think twice before doing so. We are supporting the family of the deceased.”
The death comes just 48 hours after a 17-year-old girl died from a suspected drug overdose at Leeds festival, where potentially lethal ecstasy pills were being sold. Police said the teenager, from Oldham, had taken “a combination of drugs” and died at the Bramham Park site shortly after 3.40am on Saturday.
Following her death, a 17-year-old boy from the Oldham area was arrested on suspicion of supplying controlled drugs and later released under investigation.
The deaths will increase concerns about the rising strength, purity and widespread availability of so-called party drugs.
Police had issued a warning about “very dangerous, high strength” pills called Donkey Kong, Trump and Skype that were in circulation at Leeds festival, which officers said contained “up to three times the normal average adult dose”.
The organisers of the Creamfields dance music festival issued a similar warning on Sunday, saying extremely potent MDMA tablets were being taken on-site, where Calvin Harris and the Chemical Brothers were headlining.
Experts have called for increased testing at festivals after research found that many drugs contained other harmful ingredients, such as an MDMA pill that was actually n-ethylpentylone, a long-lasting cathinone that can cause anxiety, paranoia, insomnia and psychosis.
