People attending Electric Picnic are being encourgaed to use the drug safety tents should they consume drugs during the festival.
Two Drugs.ie tents are open from 11am to 9pm Friday through Sunday, providing 30 hours of harm reduction support onsite delivered by trained volunteers.
A further two surrender bins are located at onsite medical spaces where people can deposit drugs for analysis.
The HSE drugs.ie teams can be found in the Main Arena and in the Jimi Hendrix Campsite on Friday, Saturday and Sunday 11am to 9pm.
Teams will be visible in purple and pink high vis vests and can answer queries on how the programme will operate.
Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drug Strategy Colm Burke says: “While it is always safer not use drugs, it is important from a public health perspective that we reduce the risks for those who chose to do so. We know that ongoing changes in the drug market present additional risks.
“I encourage anyone who is considering using drugs at Electric Picnic and other festivals to engage with the HSE Safer Nightlife Programme and the volunteers who are there to provide assistance. I strongly believe that we need to deal with drug use as a public health issue and give my full support to this targeted harm reduction initiative, which is now in its third year.”
Speaking at Electric Picnic, Prof Eamon Keenan, HSE National Clinical Lead, Addiction Services, explains: “Following very recent drug market changes, drug monitoring has become established as an important tool to help reduce harms among people who use drugs.
"We recently saw the value of this approach following the emergence of potent synthetic opioids and how, through back of house analysis, we could detect and rapidly respond to an emerging drug threat. This was the first time in Ireland that we could act in such a manner.
“Similarly, this service can help us detect dangerous substances at events, the public can help by surrendering drugs at our specific harm reduction settings. Back of house analysis offers us a unique opportunity to obtain and analyse substances for public health purposes.
"We collaborate with An Garda Síochána and festival organisers to ensure that a safe space is provided for people who use drugs at events to surrender drugs."
