Organisers of Parklife Festival claim government is risking lives by blocking testing of drugs

The organisers of one of the region's biggest music festivals has claimed the government are risking lives by blocking the on-site testing of drugs.

Sacha Lord, the man behind Manchester's Parklife Festival, has hit out after this team were unable to test for dangerous drugs.

Parklife 2022. Credit: Anthony Mooney

In a social media post he says: “I want to talk to you about drugs. You may have seen in The Guardian exactly what happened at Parklife last week. It’s disgusting.

“Since 2014, we’ve been testing drugs on site at Parklife. If there is anything that is worrying to the medics on site, we’ll put out an alert. But last Wednesday the Home Office turned around and said ‘nah, you’re not doing it’.

“We tried to come up with a plan B, to go to Manchester University, and they blocked us again there.

"This is coming from the Home Office, the Home Secretary Suella Braverman. Drug testing saves lives. It is that simple. It’s going on, we don’t condone it. But let’s take the sensible approach.

“And I’m telling you now, if there are any drug-related deaths at festivals this summer that we think could have been prevented by drugs testing, well blood on your hands Suella Braverman. Bang out of order.”

Organisers of Parklife Festival have claimed the government are risking lives by blocking the on-site testing of drugs. Credit: PA

“Festivals across the UK have been doing this since 2014. Blocking this at the 11th hour is one of the most dangerous, stupid decisions I have seen in my 30 year career.

“I am extremely concerned about festival season now. No one is condoning drugs, we are condoning harm reduction.

If there is a fatality now over the next few months, we will always wonder whether this could have been prevented by continuing a common sense approach of back of house testing.”

Meanwhile the Home Office say their position hasn't changed, and drug testing providers must have a licence to test at festivals.

Anya Buckley was 17 when she died at Leeds Festival in 2019. Credit: Family Photo

Anya Buckley died at Leeds Festival and had MDMA, cocaine and Ketamine in her system.

Her aunt Anna Short says the decision to stop drug testing without a licence is dangerous.

"It's backwards, it's a backstep and it's absolutely backwards for a government to make that decision in this day and age. At a time when festivals are ever increasingly popular especially amongst young people. We just want people, to have a great time and be as safe as possible whilst they're there."

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Our position hasn’t changed. Drug testing providers must have a licence to test for controlled drugs, including at festivals.

 “We have consistently made this condition clear, and law enforcement have always had a responsibility to uphold this legal requirement.

 “We have not received any applications for drug testing at the major festivals this summer. We continue to keep an open dialogue with any potential applicants”.

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