A swarm of dangerous alternatives to illicit party drugs flooded festivals in New Zealand last summer, with a quarter of all tested not what they were supposed to be.
Drug-checking agency KnowYourStuff surveyed over 2700 substances during the 2020/21 festival period at 27 different events, noticing a concerning trend of substances being swapped out.
MDMA, which is also known as ecstasy, is now the second most common illegal drug in the country, and it’s particularly popular among festivalgoers.
But as spokesperson Jez Weston told Breakfast, nearly a third of MDMA tested wasn’t MDMA, swapped out for an incredibly potent synthetic cathinone.
“People can end up having seizures, nausea, they can stay awake for sometimes 2, 3 or more days and that’s just not a fun way to party.”
A lot of the time MDMA is being swapped out for Eutylone - also known as bath salts - which potentially have dangerous side effects.
“The issue is, they’re very long-lasting and very easy to overdo it."
Once Kiwis know what kind of drug they have, many are less likely to take it, not wanting to chance fate or deal with the side effects.
Weston said the positive response of festivalgoers choosing not to use the harmful substance following testing averaged near 90 per cent for many of the venues they attended.
“People want to know what the risks are, they want to balance them out against the benefits of the drugs.
“I think it’s unrealistic to say to people ‘don’t do drugs’, we’ve tried that for 30 odd years. It doesn’t work.”
The alternative is what he called “harm reduction”, giving people the information needed to keep themselves and their peers safe.
“Overall you get a much better outcome,” said Weston.
Drug-checking at large venues has been in hot demand, with KnowYourStuff not able to be set up at all festivals.
However, Weston said even with more support to bring drug-checking to more events, it’s not going to help tap into the large proportion of people in need of their services.
“The majority of drug harm is not rich white kids at festivals, it’s out in the community. So we want more services to be set up to provide support to the community.”
But in order to do so, he told Breakfast they’re in need of help from the Government if they’re to expand their reach in keeping festivalgoers and the rest of the community safe.
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