Drug testing to return to Rhythm & Alps
by Evie Sinclair · Otago Daily Times Online NewsDrug testing units will return to next week’s Rhythm & Alps festival in the Cardrona Valley.
A nationwide shortage of testing units last year meant Wānaka festival-goers went without.
Rhythm & Alps is Otago’s largest music festival, with about 10,000 attendees expected over the three-day event.
Casey Spearin, general manager of drug- testing service Know Your Stuff, said full drug testing and harm reduction services would be available all three days of the festival as well as at clinics in Wānaka and Queenstown prior to the event.
"It’s important to have drug checking at all events but larger events do pose specific risks, such as people travelling from far away purchasing on-site from people they may not know," she said.
Ms Spearin thanked the universities and scientific institutions who had loaned equipment allowing Know Your Stuff to attend Rhythm & Alps and other New Year’s celebrations across the country.
"In classic grassroots style, the whole drug-checking programme has begged and borrowed an additional five spectrometers over New Year’s.
"This year for the first time we will be at four concurrent New Years festivals," she said.
Ms Spearin said about one in 10 samples were not as expected and urged festival-goers to get their drugs tested.
"It only takes one dealer to turn up at a festival and start deceptively, or unknowingly, selling people MDMA, which actually contains something more harmful, so the take away is please check your drugs," she said.
Hato Hone St John general manager Stu Cockburn said every year paramedics cared for people who became seriously unwell after taking recreational drugs.
"Hato Hone St John does not endorse drug-taking, but we know some people will, and we want them to be able to make informed decisions about what they are ingesting.
"Substances can be mixed or unexpectedly strong, which can be extremely dangerous, so we recommend using drug- checking services which are offered at many festivals," he said.
The Rhythm & Alps website said drug use and illicit substances were not permitted on-site.
"Know Your Stuff’s team offers free, legal, confidential, judgement-free drug checking to help you make safer, informed decisions. We know harm reduction saves lives," it said.
Know Your Stuff testing will also be available at the Lake Wānaka Centre on Sunday December 28 from 10.30am to 4.30pm.