A 53-year-old woman in Australia died after consuming a drink at a wellness retreat, while two others were taken to hospital for observation and later discharged. According to SkyNews, the woman was attending a wellness centre near Ballarat, Australia, on the weekend. She fell ill after ingesting a drink at the retreat at about midnight on Saturday. Cops said that emergency services were called but local residents were first on the scene and performed CPR on the woman until paramedics arrived. The woman died at the centre and two others were taken to a hospital for observation. The pair have since been released.
According to SkyNews, police say they are still working to determine the cause of death and are in the early stages of their investigation. They are probing whether the drink contained mushrooms.
"Moorabool Crime Investigation Unit detectives are investigating the circumstances following the death of a woman in Clunes, Saturday, 14 April," police said in a statement.
"It is believed a woman was at a retreat on Fraser Street when she became ill after ingesting a drink about 12am," they added.
Australia's ABC News reported that the woman was at Soul Barn, a wellness centre in the Victorian town of Clunes. The retreat describes itself as an alternative and holistic healthy facility. The centre says it offers a particular focus on "sound healing" involving bowls, chimes and drums to help with deep meditation.
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Some of the other services listed on the centre's website include tarot reading and "private clinic sessions designed to support you on your journey and expand your consciousness".
Police have not revealed further details about the incident, but they have appealed for anyone with information about the death to get in touch.
Notably, last year Australia became the first country to allow psychiatrists to prescribe psychedelics to patients with depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As per SkyNews, qualified and registered physicians can prescribe doses of MDMA for PTSD and psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in "magic" mushrooms, can also be given to people who have hard-to-treat depression.
