Drug checking services at music festivals and events in a Canadian setting.
Drug and Alcohol Dependence December 1, 2019 Karen McCrae, Samuel Tobias, Kenneth W. Tupper et al.
Drug checking at four music festivals in British Columbia in 2018 found that many substances contained unexpected adulterants. Of 336 checks, most samples were expected to be psychedelics (69.3%) or stimulants (19.6%). Among 233 psychedelic samples, 72.5% contained the expected unadulterated substance, while 11.6% had additional contaminants. Of 66 stimulant samples, 62.1% contained the expected substance, and 36.4% had additional contaminants. Unexpected adulterants included fentanyl, levamisole, phenacetin, and novel psychoactive substances. The authors suggest these findings highlight the value of continued drug checking for designing harm reduction interventions.