On Saturday, the 12th August 2017, I attended the BoomTown Festival near Winchester.  My purpose was not to hear the music but to visit a harm-reduction facility run by “The Loop” at which drug substances were tested to determine what they were and (among other things) whether they had been adulterated or mis-described by the supplier.   The substances were passed to a team of volunteer chemists at The Loop, under the guidance of  Professor Fiona Measham, Director of The Loop and Professor of Criminology in the School of Applied Social Sciences at Durham University.  Over 1200 persons attended the facility.  Each person anonymously submitted a substance for testing and received the result an hour or so later.  The substances were not returned to them.   The attendees were invited to participate in a 15-20 minute non-judgemental ‘intervention talk’ with a staff member, which included the question of whether the attendee had ever accessed support from a treatment service for their drug or alcohol use.  There was an instance when a substance was given to a tester by a para-medic who had obtained it from a person seeking medical assistance or advice.   According to a news item in The Independent (19th Aug 2017 [link]), analysts found “plaster of paris, monosodium glutamate, creatine, lactose, sugar and anti-malarial pills sold as drugs”.   Samples of the unpleasant, but highly potent, n-ethylpentylone, sold as Ecstasy, were discovered.  The Loop points out that it does not encourage or condone ‘recreational’ drug use, and it does not assert that such use is ‘safe’.  The facility was larger than I had anticipated, but I came away impressed by what I had seen.  The para-medic I spoke with was clearly relieved that The Loop was there to provide the services that it did.   It seems that some 10%-20% of those who attended the facility destroyed their entire batch of drug rather than risk adverse effects.  The facility will doubtless have its critics, but if one takes as a given that, for centuries – and for whatever reason – people have chosen (and will continue) to takes substances for their psychoactive effect (including alcohol), then harm-reduction schemes have their place.  No drug-related deaths at the BoomTown Festival were reported for 2017.   According to The Independent, welfare and medical professionals on site “reportedly saw far fewer serious drugs-related health issues than previous years, and attributed this to the presence of The Loop“.  Drug testing has taken place in other countries such as Sweden, Spain, and Austria.  On-site drug testing is not to be undertaken lightly .  The Loop’s strength lies in its multiple-agency approach – hence “Multi Agency Safety Testing” (MAST) [Link]