Festivals threaten legal action over government drug-testing U-turn

nme.com:

Parklife festival, has written to Home Secretary Suella Braverman protesting the government’s U-turn on drug testing.Lord has been urging Braverman to allow on-site testing in “pop-up labs” to go ahead claiming that festivals had been doing this for at least 10 years until last month when the government told him a license would be needed for the first time.Drug-checking allows illegal substances to be tested and provide notifications if any are found to be dangerous.Many larger festivals tend to use private companies for their drug checking but smaller and independent festivals usually link up with the charity The Loop, whose volunteers have been able to test at events without a licence due to agreements with local police and councils.The Loop were recently informed that they had to apply for a licence 48 hours before they were set to begin drug testing at Parklife festival.

It can take up to 16 weeks to be approved for a licence.Due to this, the charity were not able to provide the service at this years festival making it the first time in 10 years that drug checking was not available.Both Lord and the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) have instructed their legal teams to request for a judicial review in response to the Home Office’s actions.