Drug testing at Glastonbury Festival will go ahead this year - despite government licensing rules that threaten to end the practice at UK festivals
Testing for purity of drugs at festivals is increasingly common and can help to identify batches with dangerous or harmful toxins added in, but the government has tightened their position, demanding that festivals have licences that take months to process.
Glastonbury Festival told us: 'As in previous years, Glastonbury will be undertaking testing on drugs which have been surrendered or seized. The results of these tests are used to inform appropriate healthcare messaging.'
The News Movement has been running a campaign this week urging festival owners, charities and the Home Office to ensure that drug testing can go ahead for the remainder of the UK festival season.
It comes after Parklife Festival in Manchester wasn't able to offer what's known as 'back of house' testing at their event. Back of house is where the drugs are tested on-site, so results can be turned around within a few hours.
For many years, Parklife had worked closely with police in Manchester to ensure the safe testing (and destruction) of drugs - but this year the Home Office insisted that the festival have a licence to carry this out. These licences can take up to three months to process, which could make it harder for other festivals to also offer drug testing this year.
The Home Office had told Parklife that without a licence, the festival wouldn’t be complying with drug laws - even though the drugs are monitored and removed by police.
We've asked the Home Office how quickly these licences can be given out - and we're waiting to hear back.
The law technically requires that drug charities have licences awarded by the Home Office to carry out tests on drugs, but for a long time organisers and charities have worked directly with local police. We're not sure exactly why the situation has changed, and again, we're waiting to hear back.
Back of house testing is a key part of keeping people safe at festivals - if any of the drugs appear dangerous, a warning is sent out and police and local hospitals are told about them. It really can save lives.