Warning issued over “super strength” ecstasy pills at Glastonbury 2024

nme.com:

Glastonbury 2024.The Loop has warned festival-goers this year about the new pills after testing over 150 samples of drugs purchased as ecstasy.

The nonprofit organisation discovered one in ten pills containing doses of more than 250mg of MDMA, which they say is concerning for ravers who have grown accustomed to lower-strength pills during the pandemic.“It is younger and less experienced festival-goers who came of age during Covid and never experienced the super-strength pills of the 2010s who are particularly at risk,” Loop founder Professor Fiona Measham told The Guardian.The Loop found evidence of the “super strength” pills from samples at Manchester’s Parklife from June 8-9.

Checking green, purple and grey-coloured tablets placed in amnesty bins or seized by police, the charity has said the strength of these pills were akin to previous pills that have led to hospitalisations, or even deaths.Adam Waugh, training coordinator of The Loop, has said the safest option is “not to take pills”, further cautioning that “if someone is going to take them, it is safer to start with a quarter.

Wait at least 90 minutes before re-dosing, and do not assume that pills of a similar design have the same contents. Pills which look very similar can have different contents and be of differing strengths.”A post shared by The Loop (@theloop_uk)Glastonbury’s current drug policy is that drugs are “not condoned” at the festival, with festivalgoers facing confiscation and potential eviction if caught with drugs.“The police have made big efforts in recent years to crack down on the sale of drugs at the Festival,” their website reads. “Those in possession of illegal drugs risk being removed from the Festival site and refused.