Festivals will test drugs for lethal doses... but users won’t face arrest

VOLUNTARY drug testing is taking place at a dozen music festivals this summer amid fears that super strength ecstasy could claim more lives.

Police say they will not arrest revellers using the free service, which organisers describe as a ‘last line of defence’.

Senior officers insist they will still crack down on anyone caught possessing or supplying illicit substances.

Class A drugs are particularly popular with cash-strapped teenagers because they are cheaper than alcohol.

The first testing event takes place today at the 10,000-ticket Made Festival in Perry Park, Birmingham.

Individuals submit a pill or powder sample and are given feedback into what it contains within an hour.

Supporters said the service, run by charity The Loop, often deters people from taking the substances and can identify dangerous batches of drugs.

But critics fear the programme sends a message that drugs are being decriminalised and can be consumed safely.

Fiona Measham, who is behind the project, said her clinics were a last attempt to deter those who have already smuggled in substances. ‘The danger is not the contaminants, it is the high strength of MDMA and ecstasy pills. It is difficult to say before we get the full results from inquests,’ she said.

‘But with these teenage deaths they are taking tablets that are many times stronger and they are often of a smaller build and their tolerance is low. It hits them very hard.

‘They may then take one or two of these, particularly if it is hot and they are dehydrated, it puts them at considerable risk.

‘A few years ago people used to think the problem was contaminants and people were mis-sold rat poison and other things.

‘The message now is it is about dosage, these substances can be very dangerous if taken in large amounts.’

Police chiefs, health bosses and festival organisers are con- cerned about rising numbers of drug-related deaths.

There have already been a series of high-profile tragedies this year in which young adults died after taking ecstasy.

In some cases victims were experimenting with the drug for the first time as they celebrated the end of their exams. Professor Measham, who is a criminology lecturer, added: ‘Alcohol is very expensive and difficult to get hold of. At a festival it might be £4.50 or more for a little bottle of beer.

‘People can buy a pill very easily, they are very high purity, and probably cost £5 or so. And they will last them for hours.

‘There are not many calories in it – which for some people is significant – and it can keep them awake too, which they see as a benefit.

‘The drugs are cheap and easily available, they are high purity and there is a real risk that nobody knows what is in them.’

BJ Harrington, Deputy Chief Constable of Essex Police, said: ‘People will say that we are condoning drugs – we are not. If we catch people with drugs we will deal with them proportionately. ... They are not testing drugs to say they are good or bad, they are saying “This is the risk”.’

‘It hits them very hard’