The Health Service Executive (HSE), Ireland’s national health service, is to establish a working group to consider the possibility of implementing drug testing facilities at festivals and nightclubs.  Drug testing allows drug users to check the composition of the drug they are going to take, potentially helping users to avoid drugs with unwanted contaminants.

The working group will examine a number of measures, of which drug testing is one.  The HSE has come in for both praise and criticism in recent months, for an advertising campaign which is targeted at cocaine and crack users, outlining ways in which users could reduce their risk.  Some commentators argued that this was a mature response which acknowledged that people were going to use drugs and that risks could be mitigated.  Others argued that a state body should not promote drug use in any shape.

The matter was raised in the Irish Senate (Seanad) yesterday, by Senator Fintan Warfield, who praised the Government’s initiative on cocaine and crack, but asked would the Government take specific initiatives to protect festival goers.  He highlighted initiatives such as The Loop in the UK.

Minister of State for Health Promotion, Catherine Byrne,  indicated that the matter was to be examined by a HSE working group, early in 2019.

“The HSE’s addiction services has had preliminary discussions with emergency health providers who attend music events. It has examined emerging approaches that provide targeted preventive messages to recreational drug users. Our strategy, Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery, looked at evidence related to interventions to tackle the drug problem, including drug testing as a harm reduction measure. It includes a specific action which aims to strengthen early harm reduction responses to current and emerging trends, as well as patterns of drug use. This will be delivered by establishing a working group to examine the evidence on early harm reduction responses such as drug testing.”