This past weekend, UK’s The Secret Garden Party became the first festival to introduce Drug-Testing Services in Britain, spearheading a movement that should become an industry standard world-over.
The festival launched the service, allowing attendees to test their drugs before taking them, in coordination with Cambridgeshire council, local police and charity The Loop. The festival weekend ran from July 21st through 24th at a farm in Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire, drawing thousands of music fans from all over the island and beyond.
The Loop has in the past worked on similar initiatives, gaining access to drugs dropped in amnesty bins by festival-goers or confiscated by police, security or paramedics but never from attendees themselves. This past weekend’s initiative was the first of its kind, as Loop co-founder Fiona Measham told The Guardian, “For the first time we’ve been able to offer the testing service to individual users as part of a tailored advice and information package provided by a team of experienced drugs workers. This can help people make informed choices, raising awareness of particularly dangerous substances in circulation and reducing the chance of drug-related problems occurring.”
Once the festival was over and the service’s results came in, it became apparent that it was not only welcomed with open arms by attendees, but also achieved impressive results. It is estimated that around 200 people used the tests available to them, with roughly 80 substances of concern found including super-strength ecstasy pills, several amounts of dicey MDMA and ketamine.
Photo courtesy of The Secret Garden Party
“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. Until the laws are reformed, testing and encouraging safer drug use is the least we can do. We hope this groundbreaking service becomes the norm for all such events. It is now up to others to follow, to protect the health and safety of their customers. In truth it would be negligent for them not to,” said Steve Rolles, a senior policy analyst for Transform Drug Policy Foundation whose work was influential in sealing the drug-testing deal with local authorities.
Similar initiatives have been spearheaded throughout the United States by Dance Safe and other groups, aiming to provide personal testing kits to attendees as well as making them available on festival grounds. Dance Safe’s message with regard to drug checking is a simple one, “Drug checking, also known as pill testing or adulterant screening, is a harm reduction service that helps drug users avoid ingesting unknown and potentially more dangerous adulterants found in street drugs.”
It is practically impossible to enforce a no-drug police at music festival, whereas drug testing can be immensely effective in saving lives. Unfortunately, the drug market – and the MDMA one in particular – is a highly adulterated illicit drug market, hence why drug checking services have proven to add an important layer of safety for those who may otherwise be partaking in particularly dangerous usage of drugs that have been cut up with a myriad of adulterants.
There is hope that other festivals will soon follow The Secret Garden Party’s initiative in creating a safer festival experience for all attendees. This is hugely dependent on agreements between local officials, police and councils together with festival owners, promoters and organizations such as The Loop.
