Drug use patterns, harm reduction strategies and use of drug checking services in boom festival patrons

Purpose Recent studies have shown that people who attend electronic dance music events and use drug checking services (DCS) are a predominantly white male, highly educated middle-class population. However, there is still a lack of data beyond sociodemographic characteristics that must be addressed. This paper aims to describe the drug use patterns and protective behavior strategies (PBS) used by testers and nontesters at Boom Festival 2018 and analyze the relationship between these behaviors and the decision to use the DCS. Design/methodology/approach This is an exploratory research based on a cross-sectional design using baseline data collected at the Boom Festival from testers ( N = 343) and nontesters ( N = 115). Findings Nontesters presented, in general, slightly higher frequencies of use for most drugs, whereas testers tended to adopt PBS more frequently. Moreover, testers planned their drug use more often than nontesters and set more limits on the amount of drugs they used in one session. Both of these behaviors work as predictors for using the DCS. Practical implications Our data suggest that DCS might not be easily accessible to all people who use drugs, reaching almost exclusively highly educated people that already apply several harm reduction strategies. Actions should be taken to promote service accessibility. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to compare the demographics, drug use and PBS adoption of DCS users with nonusers who attended the same festival.