Festivals are a fantastic opportunity to join up with like-minded people with similar interests and have a great time. Many of the larger festivals have capacity for up to 100,000 people so the atmosphere and activities can be enjoyed by many. Unfortunately, many attendees can make the experience rather more different to its intention and risk arrest and harm to themselves by taking drugs.
Nowadays it seems that drug use at festivals has become a widely accepted ‘evil’. Festival-goers expect music, fun and good times – drugs are now a norm that has been added to that list. Sadly, it seems that people’s motivations for attending festivals are moving away from the music, cause or activities and more towards the culture or mass drug-taking in an environment that is often viewed as lenient and relaxed on the rules.
How do they get in?
Several drugs taken and sold at festivals are easily sneaked through security with minimal amounts being successfully seized. Worryingly, there are hundreds of forums online with several tips and tricks for getting drugs into festivals without getting caught. Ideas include simply stuffing into socks along with getting more creative with hiding amongst food to deter sniffer dogs. Shockingly, many contributors claim to have rarely been checked let alone having their belongings searched and any drugs confiscated.
The drugs culture at festivals has long been talked about with stories of the various extreme ways they’ve slipped through undetected but now ‘legal high’ tents are making appearances at festivals worldwide as well. For an inflated price, festival-goers line up to get a hit and then go on their way. ‘Legal’ as they may be, these tents and stalls only encourage drug-taking behaviour as an acceptable thing to do at festivals.
Aside from the substances being taken, there is growing concern about the trend of images of celebrities in compromising, unlawful situations circulating the internet and press around festival season, with organisers and publicists forced to quash rumours immediately. This media attention and behaviour helps endorse the behaviour as normal, a growing problem for festival organisers
What is being done about it?
While some festivals claim to have a strict policy and detailed information on their websites, there are many who remain conspicuously silent on the issue. A number of festivals employ police and detection dogs to catch out unsuspecting festival-goers on entry which can result in arrest or on the spot fines. However, in order to let the huge amount of people in quickly, police are given only seconds to quickly search the person and their belongings. Furthermore, often those found with drugs are still allowed to enter the festival and potentially gain access to illegal substances through others who have successfully entered the grounds without being searched efficiently.
Once entry has been organised, the duration of the festival is deemed more or less ‘safe’ for recreational drug use. The culture is so well-accepted that there is very little that authorities can do to combat the situation unless an individual is actually seen to be dealing or be in possession of a large amount.
What now?
Clearly more needs to be done to combat the culture of drug taking at music festivals. Some festivals have had success with zero-tolerance policies, with those breaking the law immediately evicted from the site regardless of the situation. Festivals that are known for their lenience would do well to imitate this strategy as it is likely that it could eliminate many of their problems with emergencies and overdoses and the bad press that follows. Potentially more severe punishments and higher fines can be put in place to discourage anyone others who want to try their luck. Unfortunately these suggestions can only be implemented with the co-operation of festival organisers themselves and the increasing education on the effects of drugs.
Should festivals do more
to control drug use?
An article for Content-Boost