The death of a 23 year old man, Anthony Mata, after a night at the “Pop 2010: The Dream” festival held at the Cow Palace in May, has been confirmed by the San Mateo coroner’s office to be the result of an abundance of the drug MDMA.
Several other people, likewise suffering from an overdose of Ecstasy, were also taken to the hospital following the massive dance event that took place Saturday, May 29th. Fortunately their experience did not prove to be fatal. The attendance at Pop 2010 was estimated to be ~16,500.
Police seized over 800 tablets of Ecstasy that night with a street value of $16,000, along with other assorted hard drugs and $5,000 in cash.
Authorities early on suspected Mata’s death to be the result of poisoning, a deadly combination of MDMA and possibly rat poison among other potential ingredients, but soon came to the conclusion that they were dealing with an overdose, not tainted drugs. The recently released coroner’s report confirms this: “Coroner Robert Foucrault says the only drug found in Mata’s system was MDMA, the main ingredient in Ecstasy.”
The fate of the Cow Palace as host to rave parties in the future is unknown. But if concerns over Ecstasy deaths are the prime mover in this deliberative process, it may help to keep things in perspective.
