Pubdate: Sat, 09 Aug 2014
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2014 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Brian Platt
Page: GT1

PARTY DRUG STRATEGY SOUGHT FOR FESTIVALS

Recent deaths prompt calls for harm-reduction policies instead of idea
that substances can be banned from music events

Two families are gathering for funerals this weekend, mourning after
yet another Canadian music festival was hit by tragedy.

Willard Amurao, 22, and Annie Truong-Le, 20, both died after taking
what police have called "party drugs" at the VELD Music Festival in
Downsview Park last weekend.

Their deaths are prompting some to ask why festival organizers are so
slow to adopt better strategies for preventing such deaths -
strategies that focus on harm reduction, rather than acting out the
charade they can be a drug-free zone.

Amurao's funeral was held Friday morning at St. Francis de Sales
Church in Ajax. Truong-Le's service will be Saturday morning in Toronto.

This year, the drug-related death toll has included a 24-year-old at
the Boonstock festival in Penticton, B.C., and a 19-year-old at the
Escapade Music Festival in Ottawa. Police haven't confirmed a cause of
death for a 21-year-old who died at B.C.'s Pemberton Music Festival,
but have ruled out foul play.

Toronto police still can't say what caused the VELD deaths, with
toxicology results expected next week, but the culprits behind most
music festival deaths are ecstasy and molly, synthetic street drugs
containing MDMA.

"There should be an active effort to learn from these tragedies," said
Rick Doblin, executive director of the U.S.-based Multidisciplinary
Association for Psychedelic Studies.

The association funds medical research on MDMA, LSD, and other
psychedelic drugs, but Doblin said his organization is increasingly
funding harm-reduction strategies for events where such drugs are
taken recreationally.

"After this happens, you always hear, 'Oh my God, kids are dying,
let's increase the criminal penalties,' " Doblin said. "I think the
idea that the use of MDMA could be completely risk-free is false, but
how do we help people make judgments for themselves about what risks
they want to take?"

The cause of death from party drugs is usually obscured by calling it
an "overdose," said Andrew Feldmar, a Vancouver-based psychotherapist
who holds - as far he knows - the only licence in Canada to import
pure MDMA from a Swiss laboratory. He uses it for research into
therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder.

"Nobody dies of taking MDMA," Feldmar said. "It's a misreporting. It
has no lethal dosage. What the person could die of is whatever it's
mixed with, or dehydration, or some other constellation of factors
that have nothing to do with MDMA itself."

One problem, Feldmar said, is that because MDMA is illegal, its
production is uncontrolled. Ecstasy and molly often contain additives
its users aren't aware of, such as methamphetamine (crystal meth).

Another problem is the environment. The drugs are often consumed at
hot, crowded shows, and even when medical help is nearby it might be
avoided due to fear of arrest.

Missi Wooldridge, executive director of DanceSafe, a non-profit that
works with electronic music event organizers in the U.S. and Canada,
said you can't overcome these challenges by pretending drugs can be
kept out.

"We encourage organizers to acknowledge the drug use, because not
acknowledging it is negligent," she said. "It's usually an uphill battle.

They're fearful of any potential legal liabilities in working with us.
It's easier for them to just say, 'This is a drug-free event.' "

In Toronto, a non-profit called Trip works on harm reduction at
festivals. Lori Kufner, Trip's co-ordinator, said they leave the
emergency work to professionals and focus on helping people deal with
a "bad trip."

"We do a lot of reminding people to drink water, and we keep an eye on
the dance floor," she said. "We try to catch people before things get
bad."

Although Trip staff were at VELD, Kufner said the organizers hadn't
invited them. They were there at the request of the private-sector
medics who had been contracted for the event. Trip had six staff
members for the 38,000 attendees, and they didn't have a booth.

"It definitely wasn't enough," Kufner said.

A spokesperson for INK Entertainment, which organized VELD, declined
comment, pointing to their statement last week that they hired 40
medics for the event, along with eight Toronto EMS staff.

Digital Dreams, an electronic music festival held at Ontario Place in
June with 30,000 in attendance, wouldn't let Trip in unless they paid
for a booth, which Kufner said they couldn't afford.

Mike Perreault, the Toronto police staff sergeant in charge of special
events planning, said he doesn't know of an "official standpoint" by
Toronto police on harm-reduction strategies around party drugs. He
said event organizers consult with many stakeholders before holding an
event, but are largely responsible for providing their own safe
environment, with police there as support.

Doblin said his group is preparing literature about party drug use for
festival organizers. He wishes MDMA would just be decriminalized, but
in the meantime there is much to be done to make its use safer.

"We need to discuss this not in a prohibition context, but an
education context," he said. "You will still end up with the fact that
there are risks, but how do we, as a society, respond to that?"
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MAP posted-by: Matt