Safe beats down under: investigating the support of drug checking at a regional festival in the Northern Territory, Australia
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Wardle, Felicity
Clifford, Sarah
Miller, Mia
Douglass, Caitlin
Peacock, Amy
Dietze, Paul
Brett, Jonathan
Moore, Samuel
Hill, Penny
Lim, Megan
Wright, Cassandra
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Abstract
Background In the context of Australian music festivals, including those in the Northern Territory (NT), drug-related harms persist. This study focused on gathering local insights into drug-related behaviours and attitudes, particularly regarding drug checking, among NT festival attendees.
Methods In May 2022, attendees (aged 16+) at a single-day multi-genre music festival in the NT were surveyed onsite about their drug use and harm reduction behaviours. Logistic regression was employed to explore factors influencing attitudes and preferences toward drug checking.
Results Out of 539 participants, 40% reported recent drug use in the past month. About 12% planned drug use at the festival. Notably, 73% supported drug checking, with 81% approval among people who use drugs. Older participants (>25 years) had 2.6 times (p = .001) greater odds of supporting drug checking. Participants with recent drug use had 2.1 times (p = .006) greater odds of supporting it. Among those opting for drug checking (n = 270), people who have recently used drugs had 5.5 times (p <.001) greater odds of preferring an onsite service. Additionally, 67% believed any drug checking service increased their safety.
Conclusions The study reveals NT festivalgoers’ widespread support for drug checking and suggests the need for on-site drug checking services in the NT.
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Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy
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© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
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Public health
Health policy
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing
Policy and administration
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Piatkowski, T; Wardle, F; Clifford, S; Miller, M; Douglass, C; Peacock, A; Dietze, P; Brett, J; Moore, S; Hill, P; Lim, M; Wright, C, Safe beats down under: investigating the support of drug checking at a regional festival in the Northern Territory, Australia, Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 2024