Drug testing kits urged for Veld, other music fests

Report recommends testing drugs for impure substances at music festivals
Electronic dance music events such as this weekend’s Veld Music Festival should investigate the possibility of using drug testing kits, so drug users can check if the substances they’ve been given are impure, a report recommends.
“You never really know exactly what’s in a pill or powder or the effect it’s going to have on you,” said Matthew Young, one of the authors of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse’s 2015 report on drug- and alcohol-related incidents at Canadian music festivals.
The report came in response to five deaths across Canada at events in 2014. This included drug-related incidents at Veld that left two people dead and 13 others hospitalized.
“We see more and more newer substances appearing in the drug marketplace and some of the substances that have appeared have very little human data,” said Young.
But many feel that incorporating drug testing kits into safety measures encourages drug use, which is why it’s a rarity at festivals across Canada.
“This isn’t condoning or encouraging it, it’s just being realistic that this is the situation. It’s living in reality, not some fantasy land that we can control this or stop this,” said Nicholas Boyce, director of the Ontario HIV and Substance Use Training Program.
He said drug testing isn’t a foolproof measure, but can at least stop people from taking a drug that they find out is mixed with something stronger.
“You can bring in all the drug sniffing dogs you want and pat downs and police searches but you’re not going to stop people bringing in small, little capsules or bags of powder,” said Boyce. “You just have to look at how intoxicated people get at these events despite all the security. We’d be far better off for everyone just to admit that.”
Veld organizers declined to comment on the merits or pitfalls of drug testing.
They say they are continuing to boost safety measures two years after tragedy struck at the festival. More than 80,000 people attended last year’s two-day event, which this year runs Saturday and Sunday at Downsview Park.
“Whatever happened two years ago wasn’t an issue about not having enough paramedics or wasn’t an issue about not having enough police or staff. It was tragic, that’s all,” said Jamil Kamal, director of risk management for Ink Entertainment, which runs Veld. “You can try your hardest… unfortunately, tragedies occur.”
Ink has set up more water stations this year and will have more staff patrolling the grounds. It also rented a building adjacent to Downsview Park, 40 metres away from the entrance, where a doctor and two registered nurses will be stationed.
The festival has switched medical suppliers to a larger company, Spectrum Event Medical Services, whose patrons include Toronto’s major sports teams and is equipped to handle large-scale events.
“As you evolve and as the years go on and you continue to run events, you always learn new things,” said Kamal, who attended a medical conference this year along with organizers of major events such as Burning Man and the Olympics to learn about better safety measures.
Last year, Ink met with the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse in anticipation of the centre’s report, in order to improve the safety of its festival-goers.
The festival began offering amnesty boxes where drugs could be deposited without police questioning. As recommended by the CCSA, it also distributed health and safety kits packed with “festival do’s and don’ts” to ticket holders and broadcasted public announcements about the dangers of drug abuse between DJ sets and on social media.
Toronto Paramedic Services and police work collaboratively with the festival and say they are continuing similar coverage as in previous years.
“We can kind of, from history, know what we need to be ready for. Unfortunately, things do happen, as was the case two years ago,” said paramedic services spokesperson Kim McKinnon.
While drug users at electronic dance music festivals tend to opt for stimulant drugs over opioids, according to Young, there’s some concern these could be mixed with other dangerous substances such as fentanyl, which has been blamed for Toronto’s rise in overdose deaths.
Kamal said he wasn’t worried about fentanyl making its way into the festival.
“The reality is that we don’t see a lot of it in Ontario. But our medical teams are prepared for everything,” he said. “They’ve been doing extensive research. You just have to be prepared, you have to be educated.”