Overdose inquiry told of drugs at rave club

One of three young men who died from a drug overdose at the Hanger 13 rave club in Ayr last year went to the club to buy a drug called Grievous Bodily Harm, a fatal accident inquiry was told yesterday, writes John Arlidge.

Friends of Andrew Dick, 19, described how he had boasted he "couldn't wait" to buy GBH inside the club.

GBH is a legal pharmaceutical sedative. Drug users call it "liquid ecstasy" because it produces the same euphoric "rush" as the designer drug. It is a dehydrating depressant which is highly dangerous when consumed with alcohol.

Mr Dick, from Glasgow, died at Hanger 13 on the same night as John Nisbet, 18, from New Cumnock, in Ayrshire. Four months later, Andrew Stoddart, 20, from Rigside, near Glasgow, collapsed and died on the dance floor.

The chairman of the inquiry, Sheriff Neil Gow, has heard evidence that ecstasy and speed were widely available at the club. Mr Gow is expected to issue new safety guidelines governing raves when the inquiry ends next week.