HSE confirms 90 drug samples handed in to Electric Picnic surrender bins

Some 90 drug samples were handed in to surrender bins at the Electric Picnic festival, the HSE has confirmed. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

Some 90 drug samples were handed in to surrender bins at the Electric Picnic festival, the HSE has confirmed.

Detailed analysis of the samples is underway which will give a breakdown by drug, potency range, and whether any new substances were detected.

It brings to almost 270 the total number of drug samples given over by users at the four music festivals where HSE has operated a drug-checking facility.

It started in Electric Picnic 2022 and expanded to three festivals this year.

A breakdown from this year shows:

• 97 samples at the Life Festival in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, 26-28 May;
• 36 samples at the Body & Soul Festival in Clonmellon, Co Westmeath, 16-18 June;
• 90 samples at the Electric Picnic Festival in Stradbally, Co Laois, 2-3 September 

The 223 samples this year is in addition to 44 samples handed in at last year’s Electric Picnic.

“We had 90 samples surrendered at this year’s Electric Picnic,” HSE addiction lead Professor Eamon Keenan said.

“Since the drug checking programme has started we have had 267 samples surrendered for analysis.” 

There were three surrender bins at this year’s Electric Picnic, compared to one last year. There was also an expanded HSE outreach service by trained volunteers this year.

The HSE runs initial testing at the festivals and then conducts more in-depth testing at laboratories in the National Drug Treatment Centre.

The drug-checking model is known as ‘back of house’ and is where people can surrender the drugs either while they are in designated HSE harm reduction tents or in medical tents.

Unlike ‘front of house’ the users do not get told what the results of the tests are directly.

Three ‘risk communications’ were issued at this year’s Electric Picnic, two in relation to high-strength MDMA (ecstasy) pills, which had been linked to people experiencing seizures, and a potent stimulant-type drug, called 3-CMC, which was sold to a person as cocaine.

In terms of the number of samples put into the surrender bins, by far the greatest number per attendee was at Life Festival, which was the only dedicated electronic music festival the HSE ran the facility in.

Around 7,000 people, predominantly young people, went to Life and 97 samples were surrendered.

Less than 5,000 attended Body & Soul and 36 samples were handed over.

Some 70,000 people went to this year’s Electric Picnic and 90 samples were surrendered.

The HSE harm reduction campaign, Safer Nightlife, was expanded from one festival in 2022 to three this year and organisers hope to expand further next year.

The risk communications sent at this year’s Electric Picnic were in relation to ‘Pink Punisher’ tablets, with samples testing twice the average adult dose.

The 3-CMC, which was sold as cocaine, is described by the HSE as a potent stimulant-type drug, which could lead to negative mental health reactions.

Both Professor Keenan and HSE project manager of Emerging Drug Trends, Nicki Killeen, have praised the backing they have received from gardaí, at local and national level.