Testing drugs at festivals is ‘a lifesaver’, study finds
Drug-related hospital admissions down 95% after onsite testing at festival in Cambridgeshire, UK … An alarming rise in drug-related deaths at music festivals can be countered by testing illicit substances onsite, according to the first academic study of its kind, which has triggered calls for similar services to be rolled out at all major events.
The Durham University findings, published online… in the International Journal of Drug Policy, show dealers selling drugs at the festival were twice as likely to deceive customers as those selling offsite, which is something that experts said highlighted the added risks for festivalgoers … “The service not only identifies and informs service users about the contents of their submitted sample and provides them with direct harm reduction advice but this pilot tells us they spread the information to their friends,” said Fiona Measham from Durham University’s Department of Sociology, and director of The Loop … The research shows that warnings about specific dangerous substances identified by onsite chemists were quickly shared on social media, alerting festival-goers across the country. “We now have evidence that people who sell drugs at festivals are twice as likely to rip off the public and we can provide evidence-based alerts that not only warn people about specific drugs but also about specific drug markets.”
Original Article (The Guardian):
Testing drugs at festivals is ‘a lifesaver’, study finds
Artwork Fair Use: Margaret Kocherga