A qualitative investigation exploring why dance festivals are risky environments for drug use and potential adverse outcomes.
Harm Reduction Journal February 5, 2022 Joseph J Palamar, İbrahim Sönmez
Dance festivals create high-risk environments for drug use, particularly for inexperienced attendees. Interviews with 35 North American experts identified four key risk factors: attendees unfamiliar with party drugs, risky drug purchasing from strangers, dangerous consumption practices driven by fear of security, and festival-specific environmental hazards like crowding, heat, dehydration, exhaustion from long event days, and inadequate medical response. These modifiable factors can guide prevention and harm reduction efforts.