UK festivals sign up to test drugs this summer

A number of major UK festivals will allow drug testing this summer.

Following in the footsteps of Secret Garden Party, events such as Reading and Leeds will be part of the local police-supported scheme this year.

A tent run by not-for-profit drug organisation The Loop will be open to revellers who want to test the purity of drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy. They will find out the results of what is tested, but the sample will be destroyed.

Melvin Benn, the boss of Festival Republic, expects the number of festivals involved with the scheme to be between six and 10.

Benn also said: "We talked about it during the summer of last year and the reality is that I took a decision that unless and until the NPCC (National Police Chiefs’ Council) supported the principle of it, it was difficult for us to move forward on it.”

Fiona Measham, who runs The Loop, said: "It’s really exciting that police are prioritising health and safety over criminal justice at festivals.”

Secret Garden Party, which ends this year, became the first UK festival to test drugs last July. Among the findings were anti-malaria tablets sold as ketamine.

[Via: The Independent]

[Photo: Carys Levin]

Dave Turner is Mixmag's Digital News Editor, follow him on Twitter