The song remains
Music festivals may go hand in
hand with drug culture, but we
can be loud and clear on harm
reduction, says
Tracy Walker.
Photography by
Tom Martin
OUTREACH
6 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| June 2015
i
n a muddy field, the distant thud of bass and
excitement in the air, a small band of drug
workers flies the flag for harm reduction (HR) on
behalf of one of the largest festivals in England.
Today’s festivals attract a much wider range of
attendees than the subculture gatherings of
yesteryear. Families are often well catered for along
with a wide variety of music genres, with some
attracting tens of thousands of people daily.
The synergy between music and drug culture is
well documented and while the music and drugs
may change and evolve, their intertwined legacy
remains the same. Some campaign for drug-free
festivals, which both the current law and policing are
aiming to achieve. But with little to no clear
resolution in sight, and drug-related deaths or
serious drug-related harm still all too common, a
different approach is needed. Some festivals are now
leading a change of direction by pioneering a more
proactive strategy to address preventable risks.
One of these festivals is BoomTown Fair, which
last year commissioned Bristol Drugs Project (BDP)
to provide HR advice and information, along with a
safe space for attendees who need it. In the run-up
to the event, they enlisted the advice and support of
BDP in creating their drug awareness campaign,
while onsite they promoted the BDP tent as a safe
non-judgemental place for attendees to visit, relax
in, and get advice or open up about drug-related
concerns. The festival also provided volunteers to
disperse HR information and direct people to the
tent to further engage with the service.
BoomTown Fair provided amnesty boxes and HR
information at the festival entrances. However,
acknowledging that not all attendees onsite would
follow the abstinence route of drug harm
prevention, BDP festival HR workers Jim Bartlett, Ian
Borland, Jacob Crook, Jasmine Lawrie, and Jane
Neale issued free condoms, water and sniffing tubes
to those who needed them, along with HR advice to
support people in staying safe. The BDP team, with
an interest in new patterns of drug use, engaged
large numbers of festival-goers in more complex
interventions around individual concerns or wider
issues. Jasmine said that The Drugs Wheel: a new
model for substance awareness (designed by Mark
Adley/DrugWatch) proved a good aid for useful
discussions about new psychoactive substances
(NPS) and drug interactions.
The BDP tent contained a ‘chill-out’ space with
beanbags, where those experiencing problems could
recuperate. Workers facilitated this in a pragmatic
and non-judgemental way, often preventing an
escalation towards the need for other welfare or
medical interventions.
With a banner announcing ‘free drugs’, qualified
by the less eye-catching ‘advice and information’,
acting as a magnet for interested passers-by, BDP
took the opportunity to learn about their drug use
and where they’d seek help if they needed it.
Despite the many attractions at BoomTown, 420
people completed BDP’s short questionnaire about
their drug use during the previous 12 months and
where they sought information and support, as well
as general demographic data.
This opportunistic sampling may not be
representative of the festival population, but may be
a useful indicator of the target, potentially at-risk,
population for whom HR services may be relevant.
The sample was young adults, 72 per cent being
under 25 and only 7 per cent over 30. Women were
marginally under-represented at 47 per cent. The
majority were in full-time work (60 per cent) or
education (27 per cent).
The biggest surprise was the number of different
drugs used in the previous 12 months, totalling 93
named substances. Respondents cited alcohol and
polydrug use as common, with 83 per cent reporting
alcohol use alongside other drugs. Many
psychoactive substances were listed, including 2Cb,
2Ci, LSD, DMT, and AMT. Empathogens included
MDMA powder and pills, while cocaine,
amphetamine and skunk featured strongly. Men
were significantly more likely to take psychedelics
like DMT, LSD and mushrooms, as well as
depressants, particularly diazepam.
Of the festival sample, 80 per cent might be
broadly categorised as casual, infrequent or weekend
drug users, showing the potential for risks of harm.
The importance of this area of work is illustrated by
