HSE warns Electric Picnic festivalgoers over high-strength drugs in circulation

The HSE Safer Nightlife Harm Reduction Programme tent will provide drug harm reduction services at Electric Picnic this weekend. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

The HSE has urged Electric Picnic attendees to engage with its drug harm reduction teams, as it remains on alert for high-strength drugs in circulation at this year’s festival.

About 80,000 people are expected to descend on Stradbally in Co Laois this weekend for the annual Electric Picnic festival, with the health service’s Safer Nightlife Harm Reduction Programme set to be onsite for the fourth time this year.

It comes after the death of a teenage girl and at least two separate hospitalisations connected to a dance music festival in Belfast last Sunday. The PSNI is investigating.

Agencies in this jurisdiction have been in contact with bodies in the North around these incidents, amid concerns high-potency MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, as well as the hallucinogenic drug LSD may have been in circulation at the event.

At Electric Picnic, the HSE said its teams would offer free and confidential “back-of-house” drug checking for analysis. Festival goers can surrender drugs at two tents located in the Electric Arena and the Hendrix Campsite. Its teams will be visible in purple and pink high-vis vests.

“People come to us with samples for a range of reasons,” said the HSE’s emerging drug trends project manager Nicki Killeen.

Often, people will come before they use to ensure that there is no risky adulterants in circulation. We can then help that person and others who may have the same drug.

“Over the last four years of this project, we have issued alerts on high-strength MDMA linked to medical emergencies, 3-CMC being sold as cocaine without people knowing, and cases of 100% pure cocaine — which is very rare but can lead to extreme medical situations or fatalities.” 

Ms Killeen said that, without this project, there would be no Irish data on MDMA purity, which has been increasing year-on-year. She added this helped identify trends and tailor their harm reduction efforts.

The HSE’s tents are what it described as “health-led settings”, where the main focus is to help people reduce harms. 

Its staff can discuss concerns, give information on drug market trends and share advice on how people can look after themselves and others at the event.

The HSE’s national clinical lead in addiction services Professor Eamon Keenan said it was always safer not to do drugs at all, but it is recognised substance use will occur in such settings, meaning the HSE must adapt its supports.

Ms Killeen added: “These [previous drug alerts] alerts were only possible because of people submitting samples to help the wider community.

“We are observing new psychoactive substances appear in the UK and throughout Europe, and are very interested to identify if these trends are currently occurring in Ireland. We would encourage people to chat with our teams and consider submitting a small amount of substances for analysis.”