Drug testing is to be carried out in nightclubs following alarm at the discovery of new psychoactive substances and superstrength ecstasy pills at Electric Picnic.
A pilot HSE scheme at the festival earlier this year found three new types of drugs among the 46 handed in by the public. These were 3-CMC and 5-MAPB – which are both similar to amphetamines – and 4-HO-MiPT which is akin to LSD.
“Mybrand” ecstasy tablets which come in the form of a skull also contained massively varying amounts of MDMA ranging from 36mg to 235mg, while some of the MDMA powder checked by HSE chemists was almost completely pure.
Read more: Drink spiking incidents almost double compared to last year
The revelations led to fears of further overdose deaths in a country which already has one of the highest rates per capita in the EU. HSE chiefs now plan to install more “surrender bins”, where clubbers can check the purity of their drugs, at other venues around the country. However, it has not yet been decided if these will be inside or outside nightclub premises.
But if dangerous levels of purity are discovered, public warnings will be issued on social media to prevent potential overdoses.
Public Health Minister Frank Feighan told the Sunday Times: “We would rather people didn’t use drugs but it’s a fact of life. What we have to do is to reduce.”
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