Study: Testing could prevent festival drug deaths

Analysis of drug-related deaths at Australian festivals over almost a decade has shown that most could potentially have been prevented through harm reduction strategies such as pill testing.

The study, published this month in the International Journal of Drug Policy, and led by Associate Professor Jennifer Schumann, from Monash University’s Department of Forensic Medicine, looked at drug-related deaths at music festivals throughout Australia between 1 July 2000 and 31 December 2019.

There were 64 deaths during the period, mostly of males aged in their mid-20s. The drug most commonly detected or reported as being used was MDMA (65.6%), followed by alcohol (46.9%) and cannabis (17.2%), with the majority of deaths being unintentional.

Drug use among music festival attendees is disproportionally high compared with the general population, notes the study, with a…

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