Illicit Drug Testing at Festivals
Illicit drug use at festivals is a serious concern. The multiple cases of deaths and hospitalization of the youth have prompted concerns about the need for illegal drug testing. The drug testing is aimed at facilitating information exchange, minimize the harms, and curb the emergence of the newly emerging psychoactive substances. It is argued that the drug user ought to be provided with a comprehensive list of the chemical components of the drug before they ingest (Butterfield, Barratt, Ezard, and Day 2016, p.3). The testing of pills is frequent in most of the European countries both onsite and offsite. However, there exists insufficient data to ascertain the efficacy of the pill testing procedures (Schneider, Galettis, Williams, Lucas, and Martin 2016, p.4). Consequently, there has been heated debate about the issue of drug testing in Australia. The opponents argue that such a move would be legalizing the use of the illicit drug; however, the proponents say that such a move would be only geared towards harm minimization.
The Need for Drug Testing
The continued rise of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) has led to a situation where there are plenty of new recreational drugs which contain potentially harmful and unknown psychoactive substances. On the other hand, in the pharmaceutical industry, the production of medicine is highly regulated and subjected to strict quality control to ensure the safety of the consumer is not compromised (Day, Criss, Griffiths, Gujral, John-Leader, Johnston, and Pit 2018, p.1). Due to the lack of control and regulations in the illicit drug formulations, this means an illegal drug may contain a pure drug, another drug or no drug at all. Additionally, it may contain toxic components and exhibit instability about its components. The testing of the illicit drug thus provides analytical information on the chemical compositions of the drug, which would help the users in identifying the possible effects of the drug (Butterfield et al. 2016, p.4). In the past, there have been instances where individuals have taken overdoses of illicit drugs more so in situations where they felt a particular dose was weak. Thus, the testing of the pills would provide the users with appropriate information with which they would use to make informed consent.
Impact of Drug Testing
Several studies show that the users of illicit drugs are more likely not to consume an illegal drug if they know the drug contains a different chemical composition than they initially bargained for. In a sample study of 642 individuals, it was shown that at least 65% of individuals would be reluctant to take the illicit drug if it was shown to contain methamphetamine. A further 57.5% and 58.4% would be unwilling to take illicit drugs known to contain Ketamine and para-methoxyamphetamine (PMA) respectively (Butterfield et al. 2016, p.4). A significant proportion of festival attendants contended that the outcomes from the drug assessment services would impact their use of these drugs. In this regard, we see that a majority of the users of the illicit drugs consume them out of ignorance and hardly know the respective chemical composition of these drugs. Again, it was shown that a majority of the drug users were supporting the introduction of free drug testing services in the festivals (Day et al. 2018, p.2). Evidently, the drug testing services at festivals would provide the users with valuable information that would help them make informed decisions.
Success of Drug Testing
The testing of illicit drugs has been shown to have positive results for the users. For example, in the Netherlands, the country's pill testing services have been shown to reduce the number of emerging psychoactive substances in the market (Butterfield et al. 2016, p.4). Although there are no statistical figures to document the overall success of the program, it is widely held that the pill testing service has led to a reduction in the users of the pills. The country has a network of twenty-six drug checking facilities which are included under the Ministry of the health as a part of the country's National health surveillance system. The system conducts tests and provides results to the users and advises them accordingly (Day et al. 2018, p.2). The body has also instituted intervention measures and referral outlets. Moreover, several organizations which offer drug testing services to the public have exhibited real-world differences among their users compared to other individuals. In the UK and Europe where there are such organizations, the differences have been so vast that it has prompted the government to fund those organizations.
Arguments against Drug Testing
On the other hand, opponents of the move argue that the testing of the drugs does not in any way combat the use of these drugs. "The testing of illicit drug formulations does not guarantee the safety of the product or protect the person consuming the drug from harm" (Butterfield et al. 2016, p.5). The testing mechanisms in place do not provide detailed information. Pill identification, reagent testing kits, and chromatography testing provide scanty details on the drugs being tested. Pill identification is based on analyzing the pills provided by consumers and those provided by the manufacturer. The method is limited in that it is based on the assumptions that the pills provided by the consumer and the manufacturer have the same chemical composition. Reagent testing does not give specific results and fails to identify other potentially dangerous compounds which may not be the ones looked for. Chromatography testing is not only expensive but also requires technical expertise to make it feasible. Moreover, allowing for drug testing may be conceived by some of the stakeholders as legalizing some of the illicit drugs. The law in Australia prohibits the analysis of illegal drugs. As such, there would be a lot of time wastage involved in the deliberations and consultations before the testing can be allowed.
Conclusion
It is apparent that the damage caused by illicit drugs is there for everyone to see. The availing of information about drug composition could prove pivotal in avoiding the damages. Thus, with government support, this vital information might be availed to the users which would help combat the losses. As such, to remedy the situation, it is imperative for the government to revise the current legislation.
References
Butterfield, R., Barratt, M., Ezard, N. and Day, R., 2016. Drug checking to improve monitoring of new psychoactive substances in Australia. Medical Journal of Australia, 204(4), pp.1-5
Day, N., Criss, J., Griffiths, B., Gujral, S.K., John-Leader, F., Johnston, J. and Pit, S., 2018. Music festival attendees’ illicit drug use, knowledge, and practices regarding drug content and purity: a cross-sectional survey. Harm reduction journal, 15(1), p.1-2.
Schneider, J., Galettis, P., Williams, M., Lucas, C. and Martin, J.H., 2016. Pill testing at music festivals: can we do more harm?. Internal medicine journal, 46(11), pp.1-5.
