Finally, a UK festival has offered free drug testing

[slimvictor]

Make no mistake, that MDMA you took over the weekened was definitely cut with something. It could be mephedrone, Pro Plus, or glass—but there's no real way of knowing in advance, because you got it off a friend who got it off a friend who knows someone called "Clive." Mixing drugs is a tale as old as time, but deregulation means that popular drugs can easily be cut or replaced entirely with substances ranging from powdered milk to rat poison. Unsurprisingly, this practice has led to drug-related deaths at music festivals in particular becoming commonplace worldwide.

Police are currently investigating two possible drug-related deaths at T In The Park this year, the second night of Buenos Aires' festival Time Warp was canceled after five drug related deaths, and an unknown drug circulating at Sunset Music Festival in Tampa, Florida, killed two people and landed another 57 in hospital. And that's just this summer so far.

In an attempt to prevent things like this from happening, American organization The Bunk Police have previously hit up a few festivals hoping to hand out test-kits to festival-goers so they could check what exactly they were going to be taking. However, festivals wouldn't let them in because of a piece of (US) legislation called the Rave Act passed in 2003, which states that venue owners and concert promoters aren’t allowed to have drugs taken at their festival because it will be interpreted as them providing a venue for drug use. This led to What's In My Baggie?—a 2014 documentary about the rise of misrepresented substances, as well as a critique of ineffective drug policy. Fast forward two years later, and Secret Garden Party has become the first UK festival to offer a free drug testing service.

This weekend, festival-goers were offered the service as part of a ten minute package of health and safety advice provided by The Loop—an organization that conducts forensic testing of drugs at festivals and nightclubs and offers associated welfare support. Over 80 substances of concern were tested during the first day and a half of Secret Garden Party and multiple samples had their contents misrepresented—including anti-malaria tablets sold as ketamine, and ammonium sulphate sold as MDMA.

Speaking from the festival site on Sunday morning, Steve Rolles, senior policy analyst for Transform Drug Policy Foundation which was instrumental in negotiating the testing facility with local authorities, said: “Around a quarter of people who brought in their drugs then asked us to dispose of them when they discovered that they had been mis-sold or were duds. We were taking dangerous substances out of circulation.”

cont at
http://noisey.vice.com/blog/finally-a-uk-festival-has-offered-free-drug-testing

 

[poledriver]

Yes that's awesome, now if Australia could only follow and allow it -

Splendour in the Grass a 'missed opportunity' for drug testing, advocates say

Advocates of minimising the dangers of drugs are frustrated that tens of thousands of young partygoers at one of the biggest events on the music festival calendar this weekend have no organised drug testing available to them.

Key points:

Some attendees told the ABC they smuggled drugs into the festival despite warnings
Series of deaths and spike in hospital admissions prompted renewed push for a trial of festival drug testing earlier this year
Advocates say the festival is a "sad, missed opportunity" for drug-testing trial
Some attendees at Splendour in the Grass have told AM they have smuggled in illicit substances, despite more than 100 police being deployed to target drug-taking at the festival this year.

Earlier this year, a series of deaths and a spike in hospital admissions related to ecstasy prompted a renewed push by some doctors and drug law reform groups for a trial of drug testing at festivals.

Byron Bay's population will more than double this weekend as around 36,000 mass for the three-day festival.

Uniformed and plain-clothed police officers are patrolling the festival targeting drug use, with sniffer dogs in tow.

Tweed Byron local area commander, Detective Superintendent Wayne Starling, said those with drugs could expect to be caught.

"The main thing is: we've publicised it. We've put it out to the media. The community knows, or the partygoers know that we're not going to tolerate drugs," he said.

"So just don't bring — just come and have a good time and go home safe. That's all we want."

'It's worth the risk': Festivalgoers smuggle drugs in

Many have heard that message and brought drugs anyway.

One attendee, John, which is not his real name, told AM about the measures he and his friends had taken to conceal their drugs.

"I'd rather the embarrassment of being overly cautious than being caught ... It's worth the risk," he said.

A New South Wales Ombudsman's report a decade ago found sniffer dogs may unintentionally encourage drug users to risk their health by taking all their drugs at once to avoid detection.

David Caldicott, from the Australian National University, said evidence had shown making drug testing available at festivals helped keep festivalgoers safe.

"The message, 'just say no to drugs', which is being peddled hard in a very Nancy Reagan-esque way in New South Wales, it holds no credibility whatsoever with young consumers," he said.

NSW unwilling to trial drug testing at festivals

Earlier this year Dr Caldicott and other harm reduction advocates spoke of trialling drug testing at festivals.

He said some states, including the ACT, were willing, but NSW was not.

"We're ready to go. We would love to be at Splendour in the Grass," he said.

"It's the first festival of the season. It's a really sad, missed opportunity for us. But it's in New South Wales and we've been told that we're not wanted there."

John and his friends are among those at Splendour in the Grass who have no idea what is in the drugs they have brought to the festival — but he said they would take them anyway.

"I think the police should just give up on charging people for drugs," he said.

"If they're actually trying to save lives, then they should start doing drug testing, and they should just admit that they can't win this war.

"They should actually start taking approaches that actually work, like drug testing."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-...a-missed-opportunity-for-drug-testing/7654862