Live music industry figures have criticised the government’s fresh U-turn on festival drug testing, with some saying “there’ll be blood” on their hands.
The Home Office has retracted its support for drug testing at festivals, citing the need for licenses under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 in order to “lawfully undertake activities including the possession, supply or production of controlled drugs”.
The three-month license application process that’s now required has been called a “deadly step backwards” by Bristol Nightlife Advisor Carly Heath. It will have “considerable ramifications and a potential to put peoples lives at risk,” Michael Kill of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) added.
We *know* Harm Reduction saves lives. Back of house checking has been in place for a decade and is an essential component in audience safety.
Any fatalities from drugs deaths this summer are totally avoidable… and a political choice.
What a grim U-Turn
— Carly Heath (@Carlybag) June 14, 2023
As well as on-site drug testing, users are also alerted to dangerous substances that are in circulation. Harm reduction specialists such as The Loop work in partnerships with festivals and nightclubs to send out push notifications via apps with warnings.
Sacha Lord, Manchester’s Night Time Economy Adviser and the co-founder of Parklife festival, which opened just days after the U-turn, told Resident Advisor: “To land such a decision two days before the UK’s biggest metropolitan festival, which took 12 months of planning that the government is an integral part of – is appalling.”
Lord added that the government is “playing politics with kids’ lives”.
“We’ve got a full summer where millions of kids will go through the gates,” he said. “And if there’s no testing facility and something happens, there’ll be blood on [Home Secretary] Suella Braverman’s hands. That’s the way I see it. If you can’t stop class-A drugs getting into a high-security prison like Strangeways, what chance do operators have of stopping them getting into a field? They can’t stop it so the best thing they can do is try to prevent harm.”
Last summer the organisers of Boardmasters were forced to warn attendees of dangerously high-strength MDMA on-site, while a warning was issued last July by The Loop after pills tested at Secret Garden Party were found to contain more than double the amount of MDMA.
In 2021 the UK government was urged to back substance checks at such music events after a report by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee (DCMS) warned of a surge in drug-related deaths.
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