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MADE Festival offering on-site drug counselling and testing

After recommendations from the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, Birmingham’s MADE Festival announced plans to offer on-site drug counselling and testing this year.

The event’s organisers will collaborate with The Loop, which will conduct its Multi-Agency Safety Testing (MAST) service at the festival. The news comes after drug-related deaths in May at the Mutiny Festival in Portsmouth. During the past two years, 11 people have died due to drug use at festivals.

Peter Jordan, MADE’s Festival Director, said their top priority was to ensure the safety of their attendees, and that he was happy to be collaborating with Birmingham City Council, the Police and Crime Commissioner, the Midlands Police, and The Loop to make the festival a safe experience this year. Jordan said that the MADE Festival still has a formal anti-drug position and urged festival-goers not to bring drugs when they attend.

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, David Jamieson, thanked the event organisers for collaborating with The Loop for having drug-testing services available at the event and said that on-site drug testing services at other festivals had reduced drug-related health problems and reduced the use of emergency services.

Earlier this month, the government said it would not block efforts to implement drug testing at more festivals. Bestival has also announced that it would introduce drug testing this year after a drug-related death at last year’s event. The MADE Festival is on 28 July at Birmingham’s Perry Park.

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