Festival drug abuse report urges new rules
Council to look at proposals on licensing, fines
Problems with drug abuse were so bad at last spring’s huge Elements Music Festival doctors ran out of Valium to deal with it, says a police report released Thursday.
Of 16,566 people who attended the electronic music event April 27-28 in Northlands Expo Centre, 41 were treated by Alberta Health Services, wrote Sgt. Nicole Chapdelaine, head of the Public Safety Compliance Team.
“If AHS did not plan as they did, the likelihood of someone dying at the event from a drug overdose would have been extremely high, if not imminent,” her report says.
“The doctors on-site gave immediate life-saving injections of Valium to numerous patrons. In fact, the doctors were required to give so many Valium injections the second night that they ran out of Valium and had to make a request for more.”
Six people were admitted to hospital in serious or critical condition. By July, one was still in intensive care and likely to need acute medical care for life.
The main drug seized was ecstasy. Four people were charged with criminal offences, all related to drugs.
The mood of the Boodang Canada event, billed as the country’s largest electronic music festival, turned from excited on the first night to “rowdy and boisterous” the second night, Chapdelaine wrote.
One possible factor in the unexpected change was pre-drinking by customers after they’d had to line up for more than an hour to buy alcohol the first night.
Another reason could have been that, despite sniffer dogs and a heavy police presence, people still took drugs into the venue, including through entrances dedicated to DJs and the promoter that security didn’t cover, the report says.
“Planning for the (festival) was rushed. There was not enough time to get a good understanding of the event and to create an effective plan for (it).”
A Boodang spokesman declined to comment.
The $205,000 bill for police, emergency medical services overtime, extended LRT hours, a fire command centre and other costs was given to Northlands or Boodang, which claimed it lost $200,000 on the festival.
The experience of regulatory agencies such as police and AHS is that drug and alcohol overdoses are more common at electronic music events than on Whyte Avenue and Jasper Avenue, the report says.
While it admits there are no hard statistics to support this claim, Chapdelaine has indicated officers on those entertainment streets typically see one ambulance a night for assaults, and none for drugs or alcohol.
She called for better co-ordination between city organizations planning for big music shows, looking at increasing fines for unsanctioned events, creating a new “promoter” licence and other changes.
A separate report on the bylaw governing licences for after-hours dances suggested promoters might be required to tighten security in future, such as giving a list of acts or allowing an advance search of the venue.
While the report, to be discussed Monday by council’s executive committee, proposes doubling the lead time for licence applications to 60 days from 30 days, it doesn’t advocate outlawing alcohol sales.
Coun. Dave Loken said Chapdelaine’s findings make him question whether such socalled raves should be allowed in Edmonton.
“We’re dealing with a much deeper issue than what police and fire and health services can manage, and that’s the illegal drugs that are still getting into these events. I’m at a loss at this point as to how we can prevent them,” he said.
“Is it better to ban these events and not have them happen, or scale them down somehow? I don’t want to take away people’s fun. The vast majority of the people who went to that event had a good time.”
But Coun. Kerry Diotte, who attended as an observer on the first night, said he doesn’t want to risk driving these shows underground.
That would put participants in greater danger because there wouldn’t be immediate medical help if they overdose or suffer other medical trouble, he said.
“Unfortunately, kids will be kids. If they’re going to do drugs, I would much rather see them in a safer environment,” he said.
“When I went there on Friday night … I was quite impressed. People were just having fun. That shows that they can work.”