THE assembly has been urged to introduce a minimum price for alcohol after dozens of young people attending a dance music concert in Derry were treated for drink and drug-related conditions.
Children as young as 12 were among those brought to hospital and some young patients required intensive care following the huge Club MTV outdoor gig at Ebrington Square on Saturday evening.
Altnagelvin A&E consultant Paul Baylis said at one stage staff struggled to cope with the numbers presenting with alcohol and drug-related problems.
He said there was also an increase in injuries from assaults, with patients saying they had been attacked by people who were drunk or on drugs.
“There was a large number of young people, ranging in age from around 12 or 13 to 25, who presented at the department, most of them intoxicated with alcohol and/or recreational drugs," he told Radio Foyle.
"The drugs that are being peddled at these concerts are not regulated in any way and there is no way of knowing the dangers of consuming them, especially when washed down with alcohol."
One woman who was working at the concert also contacted the Irish News to express concerns over the number of young people who were drunk.
She said: “There were young people, boys and girls, very young people lying around some of them being given treatment and some lying with foil blankets on them. There were others so out of their heads they were slamming into each other and couldn’t help it.”
Robert Allen of Legacy Promotions, which organised the concert, said the problem was caused by young people drinking before going to the event.
He said a few hundred people were turned away because they were intoxicated and it would reconsider its policy of allowing under-18s to attend in future.
Hospitality Ulster – which represents the north’s drinks and hospitality sectors – said serious questions had been raised about where the young people purchased alcohol.
Chief executive Colin Neill said: “We reiterate our call for the assembly to support and bring forward a minimum price per unit for alcohol in the upcoming liquor licensing bill so that serious incidents like this become less frequent.”
