The presence of HSE drug harm reduction teams at summer music festivals is “now very well accepted”, heard a Department of Health committee.
At summer festivals in 2024, the HSE harm reduction service identified “mainly MDMA… ketamine and cocaine”. The MDMA was “often” at very high strength, according to meeting minutes of the early warning and emerging trends committee in August 2024.
The committee heard there was “good engagement with volunteers and discussions on the ground”, which appeared to positively impact the behaviour of festival attendees.
The minutes further noted that the HSE’s approach at festivals was “now very well accepted”.
Since 2022, the HSE has delivered the safer nightlife programme at a number of events, including summer festivals. Festival goers can seek information and support around the issue of drug use and surrender drugs for ‘back of house’ on-site drug checking.
The work followed a recommendation in the Emerging Drug Trends and Drug Checking Working Group Report, which was published in 2021.
According to figures provided to the Medical Independent (MI), over 100 harm reduction volunteers have been recruited and trained to date. They have worked at events over the last three years.
A HSE spokesperson said that the programme’s plans for this year are not yet available.
“The programme now needs to be reviewed by the HSE with feedback from volunteers, festival attendees, and nightlife stakeholders,” the spokesperson told MI.
The HSE plans to work with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport, and Media, and national night-time economy advisors, to obtain stakeholder feedback on harm reduction in nightlife settings.
“In addition, the HSE aims to conduct research in this area on an annual basis to rapidly review drug trends, rationale for use, and reducing harm.”
The programme hopes to explore “new potential partnerships in 2025” in order to reach new audiences.
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