PEOPLE ATTENDING ELECTRIC Picnic this weekend have been advised that very high potency drugs are likely to be in circulation at the festival.
The HSE has been carrying out on-site testing on substances – to see exactly what they are and how strong they are – at festivals for the last three years. Each year, the potency of drugs like MDMA and ketamine has increased.
Typically, MDMA now ranges from 140mg to 240mg of MDMA. Anything over 125mg poses a higher risk of causing a health emergency. Due to the higher potency, even taking one pill or small volumes of powder can be risky, the HSE has warned.
Professor Eamon Keenan, HSE National Clinical Lead, Addiction Services, said Ireland is “experiencing drug trends the same way as the rest of Europe, and across the rest of Europe we’re seeing the increasing potency of substances including MDMA”.
He told The Journal: “Even within the same batch of MDMA tablets, you can find a difference in the potency of the tablets. We’re certainly seeing more potent tablets over the course of the last three years, each year the potency has been increasing.
“So just because you took something last year, doing the same thing again doesn’t necessarily mean to say that it’s going to be the same dose. It may well be a higher dose.
The market is very volatile, the market is very fluid, and the thrust of the tendency is towards higher potency.
“So I think it’d be safer to assume that the drug that you think you’re taking is actually a higher [potency] drug, a higher dose than you expect, and to act accordingly in that regard.”
Keenan said it’s obviously safer to not take drugs, but the HSE is realistic about the fact that it happens and will be promoting harm reduction at Electric Picnic.
Two Drugs.ie tents will be open at the festival from 11am to 9pm from Friday to Sunday. A further two surrender bins are located at onsite medical spaces where people can deposit drugs for analysis.
Keenan said the turnaround is pretty quick – on-site staff can determine what a substance is within minutes. He explained:
Let’s say we get a pill in, we’ll analyse that pill, then we can get a result in relation to that pill in about 15 minutes.
If, for example, a pill is determined to be very high potency MDMA, this information (and photos of said pill) will be broadcast on screens around the grounds so people know what to watch out for.
Keenan said gardaí are fully supportive of the HSE’s work at the festival and will not be in the tent seeking to arrest anyone who surrenders drugs.
“The guards are supportive of it because the guards are interested in the safety of people attending the event. They see the work that we do as an extension of providing safety to attendees.
“The tents that we have, and the medical tent, are healthcare spaces. We wouldn’t expect to see law enforcement in any healthcare facility we go into, and this is like a healthcare space.
You’ve got trained professionals in the tent, in the medical tent, and that’s who’s going to be engaging with you.
“It’s not a guard sitting in the corner of your tent, nor would it be when you go to a healthcare intervention – there isn’t a guard sitting in the corner of the room when you’re seeing the GP.”
There have been growing concerns about the circulation of powerful synthetic opioids such as nitazenes following a number of overdoses in Ireland in the last year.
Keenan said no nitazenes have been found in the drugs tested by the HSE at events so far this summer.
“They’re more downers, they’re more sedative-type drugs, and people at events like this tend to stick to more stimulant-type drugs.”
However, people should be cautious as they may unwittingly be sold them. Nitazenes can come in powder or pill form, and are sometimes erroneously sold as different substances.
“That’s why we caution in relation to, at the minute, the fluidity of the drug market, things are changing quite rapidly,” Keenan added.
HSE Drugs.ie tents and harm reduction teams will be available in the Hendrix campsite and the Main Arena at Electric Picnic this weekend. If you or someone else feels unwell after taking drugs, seek medical attention immediately. More information can be read here.
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