Safety - versus Prevention !

It seems that many politicians have retreated behind the " Just say no " mantra when it comes to any concession that might lower the death of young people at music festivals.  For a politician, being thought " soft " on drugs could have repercussions at the ballot box.  Despite the strident opposition to its implementation that supervised drug taking facility at Kings Cross has been a success and deaths in that city precinct have dropped sharply.

There is one glaring anomaly with the drug scene at music festivals.   The drug of choice is what is known in one form or another - as " Ecstasy ".  Basically, it is an amphetamine but what is on offer is usually a hybrid mix of what some enterprising drug cook can put together. Its formulation and strength factor is a complete mystery.

This is a drug that has replaced alcohol in many young minds.  They are seeking the " buzz " that makes them feel good and avoiding the slurred speech and incoherence that goes with alcohol.  Ecstasy has the added benefit that when they return home all traces of that drug will have disappeared.  Parents will be mollified.

This drug culture is strengthened by past experience. Many of those at music festivals have had a pleasant previous drug experience and probably obtain their supply from a reliable source.  When the police successfully shut down an illicit drug lab they often throw its customers on the mercy of new suppliers and with it the danger of a vastly different product mix.  The danger is that drugs being sold within these music festivals are usually  from a new drug laboratory seeking to break into the trade.

On site drug testing can not deliver the precision of a fully equipped forensic laboratory but it can weed out the lethal drug varieties produced by incompetent drug cooks. Most suppliers to the drug trade are there for the money and have no compunction in offering a product that they have cobbled together from a wild mix of ingredients.   They are anonymous  in the crowd and disappear when they have exchanged their merchandise for money.

It is quite possible that the tactics police use to stop drugs getting into music events may be increasing this drug danger.   The sight of uniformed police and their sniffer dogs at the entrance to music festivals is daunting to young people with a pill in their pocket.   The thought that they may be stopped and searched - and possibly arrested - induces panic.  Some may try and drop that form of incrimination in the gutter, but others may hide the evidence by simply swallowing it.   The chance of an overdose increases if they have more than one tablet.

We seem to be now facing the contradiction of drug safety compared to drug prevention when it comes to music festivals.   That argument was decided in favour of safety when we legalised that drug taking facility at Kings Cross for heroin users.

When it comes to drugs it seems to be a case of an unstoppable object coming into collision with an unmovable obstacle.  Its time common sense came to the fore.