SEPTEMBER | COVER FEATURE
High time for change
Words: Tom Hall
Drugs are becoming accepted as an inevitable part of festival culture, but the debate over mitigating risk rages on
Pragmatic harm reduction, loss of revenue and keeping your licence are just some of the issues organisers face surrounding drugs.
However, a while a duty of care for festival goers is agreed on, the‘ how to’ aspect of this is far from universally accepted.
The Association of Independent Festivals has weighed up these issues since its inception, and is in favour of the rollout of drug testing at festivals.“ The AIF are encouraged to see the wider roll-out of front of house Multi Agency Safety Testing( MAST) at more independent festivals this year, including Bestival and Boardmasters,” chief executive Paul Reed told Access.
“ Put simply, this is about pragmatic harm reduction and the duty of care to audiences. It certainly isn’ t and never has been about legitimising drug use or suggesting that any drug use is‘ safe’. Of course, all festivals have a zero-tolerance approach to drugs and must work to the best of their ability to restrict them from entering their sites.
“ However, if drugs can be smuggled into prisons they can and will be smuggled into festivals, whatever measures are put in place. With that in mind, making sure festival goers are better educated about the strength and make-up of these substances cannot be a bad thing. And, when you consider that everything from concrete to boric acid and malaria pills have been found through testing on-site at festivals, its
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