ANKORS; Reducing Harm at EDM Festivals
What we do
2014
Chloe Sage
Hepatitis C Project
ANKORS
Large scale Electronic Music Festivals have exploded in popularity across North America in
number of festivals and number of attendees. Attendees are young and many are drug
experienced. Many festivals are multi day events elevating the problems of binging, lack of
sleep, exposure, dehydration, sexual assault, overdose. A coordinated response, including
medical, harm reduction services, security and community partners is needed to care for the
health and safety of the large numbers of youth involved in the Electronic Music Festivals.
This paper looks at the harm reduction services offered at the multi day EDM festival
Shambhala by ANKORS and partners. Shambhala has been held on a rural private farm since
1998 and reached 15,000 in attendees last year. ANKORS is an Interior Health and PHAC
funded community organization that has been offering Harm Reduction services, supplies,
support and education in the Kootenay region for 21 years. We have been doing Harm
Reduction including substance testing at Shambhala Music Festival since 2001. ANKORS works
in coordination with other teams in the Health and Well being Department at Shambhala to
reduce negative outcomes resulting from risks associated with drugs, alcohol, heat and
exhaustion.
As Electronic Music Festivals have exploded in popularity, so has the need for non judgmental
support, factual information, and harm reduction supplies. In eleven years we have gone from
221 tests 1763 contacts in 2003 to 2786 tests 5099 contacts in 2014. Doing testing at the festival
enables us to give some information to festival guests on what they are choosing to put into their
bodies. We also offer guests the choice to dispose of their substance once we tested it. 190
people took the opportunity to throw out their drugs after the conclusion of the test. While
testing we engage in a conversation about self care, including dangerous drug combos,
adulterants, overdose prevention and BBI prevention.
ANKORS Harm Reduction is there to help people have more knowledge so they can
make more informed and healthier decisions about what they do with their bodies.
We are one spoke in the wheel of support that is offered at Shambhala. Other
supports include Outreach, the Sanctuary psychedelic first aid, Womens’ Safe
Space, Options for Sexual Health, and First Aid and Security.
In this report we share Shambhala ANKORS tent test results and info booth stats for 2014. Our
total contacts for the booth this year was 5099. This includes all contacts that came to the tent
for drug information, testing, to get condoms, dental dams, safer sex information, earplugs and
harm reduction supplies.
Where did all these drugs came from?
We did 318 tests for ground scores. Ground score means substances people found on the
ground and brought to us to test. Doctors from First Aid brought us 9 samples from a patients
bag or pocket to find out what it was that they took.
2/3 of people were purchasing onsite. We collected the region names for where substances
came from offsite. Substances came from as far north as Fort Macleod as far south as California
and from Victoria to the west and New Found land to the East. See map below.
The Tests. We used Dancesafe reagents Mandelin, Marquis, and Mecke and EZTEST Cocaine,
Piperzine and GHB id tests.
Positive and negative or inconclusive tests We ask people what they believe the substance is. A
positive test result demonstrates a substance that shows typical results according to the believed
or presumed contents OR a substance that shows typical results to another known substance. Ie.
someone came in with what they thought was Ketamine. The test came back negative for
Ketamine and positive for Methoxetamine(MXE). We had a total of 2107 positive results and
847 negative results.
MXE, PMA/PMMA, MDPV, Methylone/Butylone, Piperzines, 2C-I, 2CE, 2C-T-7 were all
substances that were sold as Ketamine, MDMA, Cocaine. Methamphetamine was also
predominately sold as something else. Almost all the 2-CB tests came back inconclusive all
were a pill with bumble bee stamp exactly like what we saw in 2011.
This year we used GHB tests for the first time. We did twelve positive GHB tests and one
negative. Most of the GHB tests were Doctors bringing in patient samples from the medical
tent.
Total mysteries are substances that people have no idea what they think it is. Mostly this
reflects ground scores(found on the ground) and First Aid patient samples. What is interesting
here is that out of the 318 ground scores we recorded, 165 were able to be identified by the
reagent tests. Here is a list of substances that were able to ID that started out as total mysteries
(ground scores and First Aid samples).
MDMA,LSD,K,MXE,PMA,GHB,NBOME,Valium,Oxycoton,2-C1,cocaine, MDPV, Cathinone,
Xanex
Methoxetamine has become a common research chemical passed off as Ketamine and
sometimes MDMA. We found 35 instances where MXE was sold as K or E. MXE is much
stronger than Ketamine, has a slower onset time and a longer duration. We saw 7 PMMA
positives this year. Last year there were 67 positives. This could be that we are not able to see
them in the samples because they are mixed in or what we would like to think is that it is being
used less.
We wrote up results we wanted to warn people about up on a white board that was placed out
front of the booth. This board was utilized heavily by guests and other Shambhala departments.
Folks would come by and take a picture of the board and have it for reference when purchasing
product. There wasn’t room on the board to write all of the inconclusive tests, so this is not a
complete list. See picture below
Disposals
When there was an inconclusive test result or a substance tested positive for something other
than what the guest thought it was they were informed of our safe disposal service at our booth.
There were 190 disposals that were recorded.
Test Limitations
The reagents are not a perfect science. Although we have a long list of substances the Mecke,
Marquis, and Mandelin tests can test for, once they test positive for one substance we can not tell
what else is in there. This enables us to give people part of the picture of what they are choosing
to consume. The rest is still a big question mark. There is also a test called Cocaine Cuts. It can
tell you the presence of such adulterants as Levamisole, and other dangerous adulterants.
The Info table
The info table supplied resources, harm reduction supplies, condoms to guests and other
Shambhala departments. We supplied Security, Outreach, First Aid, and Sanctuary with a copy
of the TripSit drug combinations Chart from http://wiki.tripsit.me/wiki/Drug_combinations
A woman came into the booth and after several minutes of studying the chart exclaimed
“ oh my god I had no idea Ketamine and Alcohol are a bad combo. This is really good to
know”.
Other information we had for people was Dancesafe drug cards, safer sex pamphlets, pamphlets
on safer use, information sheets on what to look for when purchacing E and LSD(from
Bunkpolice),
We had a tablet that we could look up information on new drugs that we had positive test results
for. We had to do this for MXE. Blue light and drug-forum are two sites we use to double check
test results with photos on the site when we are unsure about a result. Erowid is the site we use
to find out information about drug effects and dosage. We also gave out earplugs, condoms,
female or internal condoms, dental dams and lube. We also gave out straws and safer snorting
messaging at the info table.
Websites we used as a resource:
Erowid.org, drug-forum.com, bluelight, bunkpolice.com, tripproject.ca
Coordinating with other Shambhala departments
We worked with other Shambhala departments in many capacities. First Aid and Security
brought us samples of substances to test. We researched and debriefed other teams(First Aid,
Security, Outreach) on MXE and its effects. We referred people to First Aid and several to
Sanctuary. We supplied Outreach with condoms and drug info cards.
Our Team
Our team consisted of a team lead, ANKORS staff Chloe Sage, two team captains ANKORS
staff Kori Doti and Jordan Kiat and 34 volunteers. Our team consisted of members of
Dancesafe, nurses and nursing students, Harm Reduction coordinators, pharmacists, and more.
In conclusion
Right now ANKORS is the only organization doing testing at a large festival in Canada. Testing
and Harm Reduction services can save lives at Electronic Music Festivals and save money and
resources’. We need to see any policy’s that include care at festivals to include these services.