MDMA 'two times average dose' circulating at Electric Picnic

A drug warning has been issued at this weekend's festival. Pictures: HSE Twitter/Niall Carson/PA Wire

The HSE has issued a warning to revellers at Electric Picnic this weekend that a high strength drug is circulating at the festival.

An alert was sent out to say that MDMA is circulating which contains 246mg - two times the average dose.

The drug is a "purple punisher pill" and festival goers should be aware of its presence.

Any person feeling unwell after taking the pill, or any other substances at Electric Picnic should not be afraid to seek medical help.

The HSE said that while it is safer not to use drugs at all, all products should be treated with caution as you cannot be sure of contents or purity.

"Start low, go slow, keep cool and avoid mixing," it said.

There are five drug surrender bins in place at the festival site in Stradbally in the arenas and the campsites.

There are also 70 HSE-trained volunteers on hand to offer advice across the weekend.

Project manager for emerging drug trends at the HSE, Nikki Killeen, said that the drug surrender bins are a safe space for people.

"It is not monitored, it is not policed by the gardaí. It is a space for people to come and have a chat and -should they choose to - surrender their drugs," said Ms Killeen.

"Once they put their substances in the bin, they will not get them back. They will be submitted to the HSE for analysis.

"What we are looking for is high strength drugs, adulterants or new drugs that we might not know are in circulation."

If anything dangerous is discovered a warning is posted on screens at the festival, on social media, and on the app.

The drug surrender bins led to the discovery of three new substances at last year's Electric Picnic.

One of those drugs was 3-CMC, a clophedrone drug, which appeared similar to MDMA.

Professor Eamon Keenan from the HSE said that this drug can carry higher risks associated with mental health problems and physical problems.

"Once we were able to identify that, we were able to put that message out. For us, it showed the real benefit of the back-of-house testing approach," said Prof Keenan.

"People may have taken that drug thinking that it was MDMA but, actually, it wasn't."