[ad_1]
The NSW's investigation into recent drug-related deaths at music festivals is set to begin this week. So we are focusing on how to make music festivals safer by reducing drug incidents.
We know that prohibition does not reduce harm or drug use. But what is it?
Read more:
Australia's drug policies do not work, so what are the options for reform?
How do drugs cause harm?
Most of the illicit drugs used in festivals, including ecstasy (methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA), began as relatively harmless pharmaceuticals.
MDMA is most often involved in drug-related damage at festivals. The fatal and non-fatal overdoses of MDMA are generally the result of high-purity MDMA, hazardous contaminants or environmental factors such as overheating or excessive or insufficient water consumption. So to reduce the damage, we have to tackle all these problems.
Read more:
Weekly dose: Ecstasy, the drug that could be used to treat PTSD
What does not work
Police presence, random drug testing and drug-detecting dogs do not discourage drug use and can increase the harm. However, they are common in festivals and represent a substantial financial cost for festival-goers, which must be covered in the ticket price.
People who go to festivals say that the presence of the police does not discourage them from taking drugs; and there are many documented cases of people taking multiple pills at a time to avoid digging and detecting sniffer dogs, which increases the risk of overdose.
Read more:
Why do drug detection dogs detect the wrong tree?
Publicly, the police focus on drug trafficking, but the reality is that most people arrested in festivals are people who use rather than sell drugs. New South Wales police reported that during the 2019 Field Day Festival in Sydney, out of 28,000 people there were 155 drug arrests, 149 for possession and 6 for supply.
When police dogs are present, people are more likely to buy drugs during the festival than to risk being detected while carrying drugs. This means that they are more likely to buy from unknown sources, which increases their risk of harm compared to those of a reliable source.
The decriminalization of illicit drugs would significantly reduce harm and allow festival police to focus on public safety issues, such as antisocial behavior and public drunkenness.
What works
There are already effective harm reduction strategies in festivals. These included:
- presence of peer-led organizations such as Dancewize that provide information and support on harm reduction
- emergency services and first aid
- relaxation areas
- availability of clean and cold water
- good ventilation in indoor spaces, and
- training of staff and volunteers to care for people affected by drugs.
Pill test directly to the consumer
On-site pills tests, which identify the content and purity of drugs imported by festival-goers, also include contact with a health professional for a brief intervention, which may include counseling about the risks of taking drugs and information on risk reduction. Festivalgoers are always told that it is safest not to use drugs.
Brief interventions by a health professional can reduce risky drug use among young people. But without the means to propose an intervention, most young people who go to festivals do not come into contact with a health worker to receive this information.
Read more:
Here's Why Doctors Support Pill Tests At Music Festivals In Australia
Some policemen, politicians and Australian policy makers are reluctant to consider pill testing at festivals. This may be due to the fact that, until now, only on-site testing directly with the consumer has been proposed as a viable way of reducing damage.
Some people worry about the idea of accepting and testing illegal drugs directly from those who consume them, since they are still illegal.
But there are many other methods of pill testing that can also reduce the damage.
Test of drugs acquired by the police
We could also test on the spot drugs seized by the police, bought in emergency services after an incident or returned in amnesty bins.
This approach has been used in several festivals in the UK since 2013. When a potentially problematic drug is identified during the festival, an alert is broadcast on the site, via social media, usually within a few hours, to alert people likely to have bought drugs from similar lots.
In addition to potentially reducing the harm to drug users, these alerts also allow the police to better monitor the local drug market. On-site paramedics, first responders and outreach workers are better informed about medications in circulation, which helps improve interventions; and, according to the UK testing center, medical services say they have more confidence in the treatment of presentations because of alerts.
from www.shutterstock.com
This approach is not as effective in reducing harm as direct consumer testing. This is because it does not include contact with a health professional who can offer a brief intervention and that information on the pill's content is not pbaded directly to those who intend to do so. 'use.
But if police-tested drugs are badociated with real-time alerts about potential drug problems for festival-goers, it can still reduce the damage.
Offsite test
Pills brought by festival-goers can also be tested off-site before the festival. It works in the same way as on-site testing and includes a brief intervention, but works outside the festival site.
This is the main model used in the Netherlands.
Offsite testing removes the need to change the way drugs are controlled at festivals, so they may be more acceptable to some. If off-site and on-site testing is implemented, testing services will have greater reach and be more effective in reducing damage.
Purity test of the drug
The only official pill test that was undertaken in Australia was conducted by Canberra's Groovin 'the Moo in 2018 and 2019. The on-site facility badyzed samples provided directly by consumers and identified the drugs present. But they could only estimate the purity of the drug powders and did not measure the dose of MDMA contained in the pills.
High dose MDMA has been implicated in many recent festival deaths. Knowing the dose can help reduce overdoses caused by MDMA pills because patients may choose to take a lower dose of the drug if they know that their strength is high.
Read more:
When to ask for help after taking a pill
Loop UK has developed a method to more accurately measure the dose in MDMA pills, which could help reduce the harms badociated with high purity. The process does not require specialized equipment and is performed on site by qualified chemists. This year at the Parklife Festival, the organization identified high concentration pills and sent warnings.
Understanding drug use in festivals
We also do not know how many young people use drugs in Australian festivals and how much they consume. Most of what we know comes from anecdotal reports. There are probably differences between festivals.
We know that festival attendance and illicit drug use are at the peak of 20 years. For example, more research on current drug use at festivals and the types of drugs that people consume would help better develop more targeted harm reduction policies.
We will never be able to completely eliminate drug use in festivals, but we can make them safer by applying what we know works and by blocking what we know. It is normal for young people to take risks. Whether you agree or disagree with taking drugs, our young people do not deserve to die just because they took drugs.
Source link
