Music festival will test your drugs

Three Evolve fans were hospitalised previous year for taking a different drug than what they thought they had taken. However, after announcing a drug harm reduction policy involving free drug test kits, the event was nearly called off. Festival attendees who wish to have their drugs tested provide a small sample to staff, who will double-check the substances using Marquis reagant testing. At Veld, in Toronto, two people died after taking drugs a year ago and another 13 were sent to hospital.

In previous years, drug use has put stress on the limited number of local emergency responders.

Toronto-born musician Peaches surfs the crowd while performing at the 2014 Evolve Festival in Antigonish, N.S. “I’m assuming that if they bring it themselves, hopefully they’re getting the drugs from someone they semi-trust”, he told the CBC. In 2000, Portugal decriminalized the possession of all illegal drugs and implemented some of the world’s most progressive prevention, treatment and harm reduction measures.

Colter said the rules of Evolve don’t permit drug use, but it’s something the festival and the police have dealt with for years. The results were stunning.

Evolve producer Jonas Colter told Global News he tried to secure liability insurance that would allow the festival to offer drug testing at the three-day music event.

The kits Evolve intended to use were similar to what was introduced at British Columbia’s Shambhala Festival after a man died of an illegal drug and prescription drug overdose in 2012.

“If we could weed out the especially unsafe drugs at the festival …” It pulled the liability insurance this week, threatening to scuttle the event.

“I want Evolve to be a utopian, excellent festival, and I just feel like this harm reduction doesn’t guarantee it, but if we can get all the truly disgusting drugs off the site, it’s going to help”, he said. Meanwhile, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse warned on Tuesday that drug testing kits have “vastly diminished” value if testing is not done in combination with education and the results are not presented in context. “Many of you have heard that Evolve is in jeopardy”.

The testing he had planned to offer would have told festival goers what the majority ingredient in their pills or powder was.