UK Festivals to get Drug Testing
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Melvin Benn, organiser of Reading and Leeds festivals, is hoping to get a license from the Home Office to have drug testing facilities at festivals in the UK.
Pilots for the program took place in last year’s Secret Garden Party and Kendal Calling. However, festival promoters are waiting for approval from the government to make sure they aren’t breaking the law. Benn hopes to have a license in place by the time Reading and Leeds roll around in August.
He spoke to Newsbeat at the Community Festival in London and said:
“The people that are doing the drugs testing have to have a license from the Home Office to be in possession of controlled drugs, otherwise, they are in possession of illegal drugs.
“We haven’t got that permission yet. When we get that permission, we can announce that it’ll happen at Reading and Leeds, but until I get that permission I can’t say it will.”
Obviously, the scheme has had some critics, however Benn says the festivals will be safer if there is a way to test drugs.
Unfortunately, drugs are still quite a part of the festival culture and having somewhere to test these drugs would mean fewer people in danger of putting something in their body that could be incredibly harmful. Last year 200 people tested their illegal drugs, at the Secret Garden Party in Cambridgeshire.
It would certainly be useful to know what you’re putting into your body, without fear of being apprehended for whatever you’re taking. Just know you do so at your own risk.
We’ll update if the license gets passed.