Pubdate: Sat, 09 Jul 2016
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Page: A10
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Megan Gillis

HELPING FESTIVALGOERS PARTY SMART AND SAFE THIS SUMMER

To have an enjoyable time, we want to build people's safety ... and a 
community where people are willing to step in.

With the summer festival season in full blast, there's a dark side to 
the fun in the sun..

One local service agency is helping festivalgoers who use drugs avoid 
the deadly mistakes that have killed people in Ottawa and across 
Canada by offering low-tech checking kits.

Another is training Ottawa festival volunteers - more than 4,500 of 
them last year alone at events like Escapade, RBC Bluesfest and 
CityFolk - to intervene when they see sexual violence, which spikes 
at mass gatherings.

"One of our big messages is how can we make fun safe?" said Stefanie 
Lomatski of the Sexual Assault Network, which helped launch Project 
SoundCheck, an initiative that helps teach volunteers to recognize 
and stop sexual violence at festivals.

"To have an enjoyable time, we want to build people's safety and 
awareness and a community where people are willing to step in."

The Ottawa Hospital treated eight women for sexual assault and Ottawa 
police were investigating as many as 10 sexual assaults on a single 
weekend last month.

The hospital reported six of those women were under 20, with assaults 
reported to have happened at festival sites (both an electronic dance 
festival and rock music event were underway that weekend) and parties.

It's the same "devastating " trend explored in The Ottawa Hospital 
research in 2014, which found sexual assaults peak during 
celebrations such as New Year's Eve and Canada Day, with statistical 
links to youth, drugs and alcohol and assailants who were strangers.

"It's a community responsibility to address sexual violence," 
Lomatski said. "We can change what that looks like."

Project Sound Check trains volunteers to look for signs of trouble 
while they 're taking tickets or selling merchandise, then step in 
and get help.

Volunteers might spot someone who appears very drunk, high or 
confused and vulnerable to what the project calls drug- and alcohol - 
facilitated sexual assault - like if they see someone slip a pill 
into a drink or overhear a troubling conversation.

They learn skills like how to "check in" - which could be as simple 
as striking up a conversation about the band to gauge the situation - 
or the "distraction technique" when they are concerned about how two 
people are interacting.

It doesn't end at the festival gate. Nine in 10 volunteers said 
they'd spread the word.

"We're reaching people as part of the festivals, but they're sharing 
this message," Lomatski said.

When it comes to drug use, the problem is information about widely 
used, but potentially dangerous substances is not being shared at all.

"When warnings get out there, it's long after someone has had an 
adverse reaction," said Caleb Chepesiuk, harm reduction co-ordinator 
at AIDS Committee of Ottawa.

"In Ottawa, we have no idea whether the MDMA is stronger than it used 
to be or adulterated - we don't have the ability to monitor. What we 
get is rumours and gossip in place of health information. This is the 
gap in harm reduction we're trying to address."

Chepesiuk demonstrated how to use the test kits, which users can buy 
for $15 or pay-what-you-can, by putting drops of a reagent on a 
fragment of a white pill. "I'll ruin the suspense - this is just 
aspirin," he said as it turned brown.

It wasn't aspirin when a 19-year-old woman died and a 20-year-old 
woman ended up in a coma after "severe reactions" to unidentified 
pills at large events over the Canada Day long weekend in 2014.

The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse reports five young people died 
that summer at music festivals with alcohol, drugs or both 
contributing factors.

Among its recommendations were making sure there's enough water to 
avoid dehydration at events like dance parties, finding ways to 
quickly share word of bad drugs and considering checking services.

While the test kits are cheap and simple, they don't indicate 
strength and only pick up one substance at a time, such as ketamine, 
which turns bright red, and MDMA, near black.

It takes sophisticated equipment to pick up fentanyl - a major 
concern right now - and identify multiple substances through a 
checking service, which is the ultimate goal, Chepesiuk said.

"It's peak party time," he said. "A lot of drug use is situational, 
not habitual. That doesn't mean people are not facing the same risks.

"They may be less educated on the ways of making sure the drug is 
what it says it is."

Too often, the message to young people is "just don't do it," said 
Derek Cassidy of Queering613, who teamed up with Chepesiuk to offer a 
"safer partying" workshop last month.

Instead, Cassidy shared tips ranging from testing any drugs and 
telling a friend what you're taking, to making sure to eat and drink 
water, carry cash for a cab and to pack condoms and ear plugs.

He also stressed the need for "enthusiastic and ongoing" consent when 
mixing drugs and booze with sexual activity, something that doesn't 
come up in traditional sex ed.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom