Pubdate: Thu, 16 Jul 2015
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Nick Eagland
Page: 4

MUSIC FESTS TACKLE DRUGS, FAN SAFETY

PROACTIVE PLANS: Pemberton, other shows provide 'safe havens,'
harm-reduction programs on site

The drugs aren't what they used to be.

Long ago, the acid, mushrooms and pot of the Woodstock era started
making way for party drugs like MDMA, GHB and ketamine, which may have
played a role in as many as five deaths at Canadian summer music
festivals in 2014 - and organizers are scrambling to keep their
attendees safe.

Last year, 21-year-old Nick Phongsavath was found unresponsive in a
tent at the Pemberton Music Festival and 24-year-old Lynn Tolocka died
after collapsing at Boonstock Music Festival in Penticton. The B.C.
Coroners Service is still investigating the cause of both deaths,
spokeswoman Barb McClintock said Wednesday.

This weekend, the Pemberton Music Festival is tackling the issue of
unsafe drug use head on by bolstering its harm-reduction program and
implementing several recommendations made in a new report by the
Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, according to the festival's
medical-services provider.

"We're really trying to be inclusive and take it to the highest level
possible, in terms of harm reduction," said Dr. Sam Gutman, president
of Rockdoc Consulting.

Rockdoc's medical team is collaborating with peer support groups
DanceSafe and Karmik, both experts in harm-reduction outreach and safe
drug use.

Gutman said they've created an area on the festival grounds called the
"Safe Haven," where attendees can seek support from both groups.

Site design played an important role in harm reduction, he said, and
in addition to increasing access to water for the festival's estimated
75,000 attendees, organizers have created a cooling zone, where people
can mellow out on a couch inside a quiet, air-conditioned tent.

Gutman said introducing such services wasn't in reaction to
Phongsavath's death, but because "it's the right thing to do" to
ensure the safety and comfort of attendees.

"We had a really good plan in place last year and, notwithstanding the
death, we had a very small number of transports - we only had eight
people transported to hospital," Gutman said. "This is just an
evolution of what we're already doing, as opposed to a reaction."

Pemberton's updated approach is similar to a strategy employed at
electronic dance-music festivals in B.C. for more than a decade.

For 13 years, non-profit ANKORS has provided harm-reduction services
at Shambhala Music Festival, which draws 10,000 electronic music fans
to the Salmo River Valley each August.

ANKORS' Chloe Sage said one of her group's biggest concerns is
educating attendees about new psychoactive substances being introduced
to the market on a weekly basis, many of which are mixed with cheap,
potent adulterants and potentially lethal drugs such as PMMA.

"It's a capitalistic endeavour, so we're constantly trying to keep up
to find out about these new substances and have information for people
so that we can learn about the risks and the effects," Sage said.

"People have a lack of information on drugs and drug mixing, and
there's a lot of poly-substance use that happens at these festivals,
so that's a big concern as well."

There has been one drug-related death at Shambhala in its 17 years,
though Sage said Shambhala is "the same as any festival" when it comes
to the presence of substances.

ANKORS serves as an information centre for those who choose to use
drugs at the festival, she said, providing support for attendees along
with several other service providers.

Among the services at its harm reduction booth, ANKORS posts
up-to-date drug information on a white board and provides blue dye for
attendees to mark water bottles containing GHB so others don't
unwittingly consume the drug responsible for most overdoses at Shambhala.

ANKORS also provides pill and powder testing. Sage said that of the
2,785 tests conducted in 2014, 843 came up negative for the substance
believed to be in the pill or powder.

"Every single person that comes in to do a test in our booth, we talk
to them about the fact that drugs, nowadays, are mostly adulterated,
that you will rarely find a pure sample and to assume that it's
adulterated, so start small," she said.

Last year, ANKORS tracked "ground scores" and tallied 318 samples of
drugs brought in for testing that people had found on the ground.

Bass Coast, an electronic music festival that drew 3,000 attendees to
Merritt last weekend, also has an expansive harm-reduction program.

Spokesman Paul Brooks, who helped develop the program, said the
festival's organizers understand that drug use can't be prevented, so
they take the approach that "when armed with more information, people
will make safer decisions."

Brooks said it's important musical festival attendees aren't afraid to
ask for help if they encounter problems with substance use.

"It's not illegal to be on drugs," he said.

"If you are in distress, you can ask for help. You should call 911,
you should approach the security or the medical staff because they're
there to help you and they will help you."

He recommends those considering using drugs at festivals visit sites
like www.erowid.org , www.tripsit.me and www.dancesafe.org beforehand
for the latest information about their risks and effects.

Bass Coast harm-reduction team manager Stacey Forrester said this year
they did "a lot of groundwork" to inform attendees about their
services using social media before the event, and focused on outreach
by making a presence on the dance floor.

"We know that sometimes people choose to use substances, but that
doesn't mean they're any less deserving of support and care," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt