Everyone is familiar with the dictate 'Just Say No'. The problem is that more and more people are saying yes. Specifically to illegal drugs.
As tickets go on sale for this year's round of music festivals — Falls, Defqon, Bluefest, Lost Paradise, to name a few — organisers still have no means to counteract unsafe drug use. Recent years have seen an increase in drug related injuries and fatalities at festivals. The debate as to how to counteract this worrying trend is ongoing, and tricky to navigate due its subjective nature.
So why are music festivals used so often to exemplify the need for a change in drugs policies? Aside from the number of fatalities, drug use at festivals could be categorised as particularly harmful just by virtue of the situation.
With little access to traditional medical facilities, huge opportunity for undetected mishap among thousands of patrons, plus the general hedonistic atmosphere of a festival, the microcosm of the festival becomes a potentially dangerous place.
The current zero tolerance stance towards drugs in New South Wales is a double-edged sword, and one that is based on outdated views. Absolute denial of something perceived as harmful (physically and often socially) is laudable, but it also prevents any sort of admission of the reality.
In the 1960s and 70s it was commonly believed that the less people knew about something, the less likely they were to abuse it. This has not proved to be the case. State research from 15 years ago describes the futility of 'the Utopian desire to 'drug proof' young people ... to keep young people safer in a world where drug use is a fact of life'. In short, ignorance of an issue does not make it go away.
This is the rock and hard place between which promoters and festival organisers are caught. On the one hand all evidence points to the fact that drug use undoubtedly occurs at festivals.
On the other they are powerless to put in place any sort of precautional or safety measures — because that would be an open admission of what we already know; that illegal substances will certainly be present. Which would most likely result in denial of permits and cancellation.
"Ignorance as to the substance you are consuming can lead to overdosing, or unpleasant reactions to differing 'highs'. There is also the worst case scenario that your pills maybe be genuine poison."
Stereosonic organiser, Richie McNeil, recently