Preventing harm from drugs at festivals

Data on the prevalence of drug use at festivals is limited but suggest that it can be widespread and normalised. The risk of drug harm is especially true as we face an increasing threat from synthetic opioids, which – although primarily mixed into heroin – have been increasingly reported in other drugs that might be more likely to be used festivals.

It will never be safe to use drugs but there are measures that can be taken to mitigate some of the risks involved. This briefing paper provides an overview of good practice that can be adopted in festivals to reduce drug-related harm.

Local consultation, planning and responsibilities

  • UK event promoters must already follow existing legislative procedures and event safety standards
  • Large, planned events should approach their District lower tier authority to discuss their event and participate in a Safety Advisory Group (SAG). A SAG is usually co-ordinated by the District or Unitary Local Authority and made up of representatives from emergency services, Council Emergency Planning and Public Health, the event organiser and other relevant organisations. In Hampshire SAGs are led by lower tier authorities.
  • The HIOW Festival Outbreak guidance includes guidance for Safety Advisory Group’s (SAGs) and festival organisers in reducing drug-related harm at festivals
  • HCC and IWC attend specific event SAGs to influence measures that the festival organiser puts in place keep people safe which includes to reduce drug / alcohol related harm.
  • It is the responsibility of the festival organiser to ensure that festival goers are safe and the harm from alcohol and drugs is minimised.

Water provision and overheating

  • Water provision plays a vital role in preventing drug and alcohol related dehydration and drug-related overheating
  • Plentiful free water needs to be made available without long queuing in direct sunlight. Shade and shelter from the sun or heat should also be available alongside cooling measures such as misting tents and industrial fans.
  • Event organisers could also provide additional shaded, quieter or cooler ‘chill out’ areas across the site and away from busy areas and alcohol sales points. Such spaces should be overseen by event security and be visited regularly by roaming welfare outreach workers.

Harm reduction and staff training

  • Harm reduction strategies seek to create safer settings and encourage safer behaviours.
  • Festival organisers should take steps to ensure harm reduction information is widely promoted before and during the festival.
  • Harm reduction messages are more likely to be favourably received by existing drug users than abstinence-based health promotion messages
  • Harm reduction advice should include; real time warnings of potential onsite substances of concern; Warnings that illegal drugs can vary in strength and purity; using a low dose and waiting for at least an hour before using again, the importance of drinking water and taking regular breaks to reduce risk of overheating, the increased risks of mixing different drugs, risk of blood borne viruses from sharing snorting paraphernalia. Avoid using alone and at the same time, seek help in an emergency.
  • Harm reduction advice for alcohol should include; information about the effects & risks of mixing alcohol with drugs, the importance of drinking water, alternating alcohol drinks with soft drinks or low alcohol alternatives, risks of spiking and advice of not leaving drinks unattended or accepting drinks from a stranger, amount of time it takes alcohol to leave the body if driving.
  • Harm reduction messaging strategies during the event could include: harm reduction messages on festival merchandising; welfare staff roaming to engage and check in with attendees at chill out areas, campsites, outside the welfare area, during roaming water distribution and at designated chill out zones; notifications via any festival app; posters and digital boards/screens. Examples of harm reduction messages are available at Alcohol & Other Drugs | Festival Safe
  • All staff should have been trained to recognise and respond to drug and alcohol related harm or distress. Welfare services can train security staff in how to respond to drug/alcohol related emergencies

Drug testing

  • Testing provides opportunities to deliver harm reduction messaging and to issue warnings when adulterated or high strength drugs are identified.
  • Testing can be either back-of-house (seized or amnesty bin drugs are tested) or front-of-house (individual festival goers submit their drugs for testing and receive direct information and advice). In both cases, the findings can be relayed to all festival goers to encourage them to reduce risks. Both forms of testing require a Home Office license.
  • Whilst fast, reliable testing at festivals is challenging and can never provide complete assurance, results from a drug testing pilot undertaken by the Loop in 2016, suggest almost one in five users opted to have their drugs destroyed immediately, and one in six said they would moderate their behaviour, reducing the prevalence of potentially more harmful substances circulating on site.

Welfare provision

  • Welfare provision offers a designated onsite safe space at festivals and events for attendees to access support about a range of issues, including alcohol, drugs, mental wellbeing and sexual health. It provides a safe and quiet space where event attendees can seek supervised relief or recuperation.

  • Welfare provision should usually be overseen and coordinated by a specialist and experienced welfare provider.

  • Welfare services operate best as part of a co-ordinated team, including event control, medical services, stewards and security.  

  • Welfare volunteers can help with information gathering and providing psychological support and are well placed to provide harm reduction advice and liaise with the onsite medical team.

  • Provision of drugs outreach workers from local drug treatment services can fulfil various roles including the provision of harm reduction information. Signposting information to treatment services should be available.  The local community drug and alcohol treatment service for Hampshire and for the Isle of Wight it is Inclusion Isle of Wight -Inclusion IOW

Management of those under the influence of drugs or alcohol

  • The safety of anyone under the influence of drink or drugs must be at the forefront of any consideration about whether to remove them from the event. It may be more appropriate and less risky to move them to the welfare or onsite medical area

  • Anyone who presents with signs of a serious drug-related illness, including those with severe agitation or behavioural issues, should be transferred as quickly and safely as possible to the onsite medical area for assessment.

  • If the health of anyone under the care of the welfare service deteriorates there should be an agreed, clear, and effective handover protocol between welfare and medical teams.

  • Those attending events may need support for mental health issues, compounded at events taking place over several days or where individuals may be deprived of sleep or have used psychoactive drugs over a sustained period and may be experiencing an emotional episode or feeling disorientated

Emerging drug threats

  • Organisations should be alive to new and emerging drug threats, which include the presence of synthetic opioids within the UK drugs market. Synthetic opioids currently largely comprise a group of drugs called nitazene, which are more potent than heroin. Although primarily mixed into heroin, there these have reported in other drugs that might be more likely to be used festivals.
  • Naloxone remains an effective, life-saving tool in the face of a synthetic opioid overdose. Event organisers and partners should work closely together to ensure that naloxone is readily available as part of their harm reduction and first aid measures.

Resources

For organisers

For festival goers

References

Drugs, alcohol and festival planning in 2024, Joint letter from Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and National Police Chief’s Council

Royal Society for Public Health. Drug safety at festivals and night clubs

Measham, F. (2018) 'Drug safety testing, disposals and dealing in an English field: Exploring the operational and behavioural outcomes of the UK's first onsite 'drug checking' service', forthcoming in International Journal of Drug Policy

Document developed by Hampshire County Council and Isle of Wight Council Public Health

Updated: March 2025

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