Parklife boss Sacha Lord has said that drug testing and ‘common sense’ is the best way to deal with drug use at the annual festival. As Lord and his team prepare to welcome 80,000 festival-goers to Heaton Park this weekend, he told the Manchester Evening News their approach keeps people safe.
“I believe the way we deal with [drugs] is the right way,” he says. “We have drug testing on site, and if we see something that concerns us, we’ll put it out on social media. I’m adamant, and I’ll die on the hill saying this, that is the right way to do it.
“If anyone says to me, ‘I run a festival, and drugs don’t come into [my event], they’re either stupid or they’re lying. Because it happens.
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“Ultimately, if you cannot stop drugs getting into a category A prison like Strangeways, what am I supposed to do in a park? So let’s work together, and have a common sense approach and keep people safe.”
The festival, as well as the Warehouse Project, has a long-standing partnership with non-profit drug testing organisation The Loop, which tests drugs on site and can feed back information to the public in real time.
Last year, The Loop released details of a range of new MDMA pills that had been tested on site in its mobile lab, and were able to let festival goers know how strong they were. Lord added that ‘crack downs’ and zero tolerance can cause more harm than good.
“I’m always concerned about safety,” he says. “When you have that many people in a field, there will always be incidents.
“I’ve seen occasions where there have been fatalities, not just in the UK, but in Europe too, where crackdowns have been so significant that people are necking whatever they have in the queue. You know what’s going to happen in that situation.”
Last year, of the 80,000 who attended the festival, police made 57 arrests, 17 of which were on suspicion of drug possession with intent to supply. Two people were also arrested for possession of a controlled substance.
This year’s Parklife happens this weekend - June 10 and 11 - with performances from Aitch, The Prodigy, The 1975, Little Simz, Wu-Tang Clan, Nas and Skrillex.
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