Drugs campaign to target Leeds and Reading festivals

The campaign comes after the death of a 17-year-old in 2019

A major drug outreach campaign is to be launched ahead of the Leeds and Reading festivals later this month.

The campaign has been developed as part of the response to the drug-related death of a 17-year-old girl at the Leeds event in 2019.

Approving plans for the Leeds Festival, the city council said measures were being taken to minimise the risks.

Festival organisers are also installing drug advisory points at Leeds for the first time.

Anya Buckley, 17, from Oldham, died in the early hours of Saturday 24 August 2019 after taking a number of illicit drugs.

Following an inquest into her death in January, West Yorkshire coroner Kevin McLoughlin sent a preventing future death report to Leeds City Council.

His report said action had to be taken by the council because "illicit drugs are a fact of life at festivals such as this despite the efforts by the organiser to prevent them getting in".

As part of their response council officers in Leeds and Reading teamed up with organisers Festival Republic to devise the campaign.

It is based on a series of animations which will run on social media and will also feature on the big screens at both festival sites.

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Dan Burn, public health lead for drugs and alcohol in Leeds, told the city council's licensing committee, the campaign will focus on the risks of multiple drug use, mixing drugs and alcohol and the need to keep hydrated.

The festival on 27-29 August was one of the first events to confirm it was going ahead this summer after a year of Covid-related cancellations in 2020.

The campaign also aims to raise awareness among young people that after a year of living with restrictions their tolerance to drugs and alcohol may have changed.

"For some it may be the first major event they've been to for a long time, for some it will be the first major event in their life," he said.

"We want these messages to be in people's heads and not for them to see them when they first get there when it is potentially too late."

Melvin Benn, from Festival Republic, said the organisers took festivalgoers' welfare "very seriously".

"We have behavioural detection officers, we have drug detection dogs, we have undercover officers," he said.

He said welfare provision at Leeds, which was already "considerable", had been increased for this year's festival.

Standalone drug advisory information points will also be introduced in the main arena for the first time.

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