They were turning up a decade ago. Heck, I called one in myself at Anthrocon, for a fursuiter throwing up green bile in the lounge - it turned out to be kidney stones. There have been drug cases, for sure - let's not forget Tumbles the Stairdragon, back in 2007 - but there have also been plenty of broken limbs and other relatively unrelated ailments.
Furry conventions are big events now and a certain proportion of their attendees are likely to have a bad time and end up at hospital. That doesn't mean we should be complacent; but lacking hard data - which I doubt cons would be keen to release - I'd be wary of suggesting that the problem is any worse than it was in the past, in proportion to the number attending.
They were turning up a decade ago. Heck, I called one in myself at Anthrocon, for a fursuiter throwing up green bile in the lounge - it turned out to be kidney stones. There have been drug cases, for sure - let's not forget Tumbles the Stairdragon, back in 2007 - but there have also been plenty of broken limbs and other relatively unrelated ailments.
Furry conventions are big events now and a certain proportion of their attendees are likely to have a bad time and end up at hospital. That doesn't mean we should be complacent; but lacking hard data - which I doubt cons would be keen to release - I'd be wary of suggesting that the problem is any worse than it was in the past, in proportion to the number attending.