Happy Overdose

Photos and Words by William Lee

listen to sam smith

“What was supposed to be a 3-day festival took a very unexpected turn...when six people died of drug overdose.”

Malaysia seems to be the center of attention recently, shrouded by not only the lingering haze caused by forest fires from neighbouring countries but also the tragic incident of missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, uniting a nation with thoughts and prayers. The other thing that unites us all is music. The Future Music Festival Asia 2014 held in March, featured international acts like Pharrell Williams, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Deadmau5, Armin Van Buuren, PVD and many more.

Fmfa attracted music lovers all over the globe, to perhaps the most anticipated music event of the year in Kuala Lumpur. But what was supposed to be a 3-day festival then took a very unexpected turn when, police and authorities advised organisers to shut the event down after Day 2 when six people died of drug overdose.

People are speculating all sorts of things relating to the deaths, because what was reported in the news was an overdose of consuming Meth. I personally think it’s because drug dealers, or rather manufacturers, do not process these drugs well and therefore, it becomes a dangerous substance when people consume them. This is especially true here in Malaysia and other parts of Asia. I may be wrong on this, but the stigma of consuming drugs in a place like say, Amsterdam, seems “safe”, as opposed to places like Malaysia or Thailand where people can’t rely on “quality” goods. This is of course, providing another perspective to the fact that these drugs are already harmful and dangerous to begin with.

When I was at FMFA for those 2 days, mostly everyone was on something. If it wasn’t meth or ecstasy, it was weed (it’s hard to ignore the smell). There were also drug pushers within the vicinity selling all sorts of shit.

“I Believe What

caused those deaths at fmfa were really bad drugs... People don’t talk about drug-related deaths because they don’t think it can happen to them.

Concert organisers need to take extra precaution in making sure that security is tight, where there’s bound to be drug abusers.

I believe that what caused those deaths at FMFA were really bad drugs, rather than an overdose of whatever. People don’t talk about drug-related deaths because they don’t think it can happen to them. We think not talking about it generally makes the problem go away, but it doesn’t.

And for the rest of us who safely partied the nights away during the two very successful days of FMFA, well I captured those special moments I shared with random people, that intense energy we had, and the kind of high we live on - the happy kind.