Drug safety testing, disposals and dealing in an English field: Exploring the operational and behavioural outcomes of the UK's first onsite 'drug checking' service[1]
Summary
This paper reports the operational and behavioural outcomes of the UK's first onsite festival drug-safety (drug-checking) service, piloted at a July 2016 UK festival during a record year for festival drug deaths. Chemists in a temporary laboratory analyzed 247 public-submitted substances over four days; results were returned within 230 healthcare consultations reaching roughly 900 festival-goers (about one in five drug-using attendees). One in five substances was not as sold or acquired. One in five service users used the disposal service for further substances, and another one in six moderated their consumption; among those whose sample was mis-sold, two-thirds disposed of further substances versus fewer than one in ten whose sample was as sold.
Key findings
- 247 substances analyzed over 4 days; results delivered in 230 consultations to ~900 attendees.
- 1 in 5 substances was not as sold/acquired.
- 1 in 5 users disposed of further substances; ~1 in 6 moderated consumption.
- Mis-sold sample → two-thirds disposed of further drugs, vs <1 in 10 whose sample was as sold.
Read the paper
- Publisher (DOI) ↗may be paywalled