Festival-goers choose their drugs based on the music

Drug use at music festivals has generally been assessed through questionnaires or police reports. This study, published in Science Direct, uses a different approach, as it analyzes urine samples from festivalgoers to determine the associations between different genres of music and the use of specific drugs.

Cannabis: A Staple of Festivals

Researchers detected the presence of 26 illicit drugs and pharmaceutical compounds (their metabolites or active ingredients) in wastewater from seven festivals in the Czech Republic and Slovakia featuring different music genres: metal, rock, pop, country and folk, ethnic, multi-genre, dance, and trance. The total number of attendees exceeded 130,000.

The study shows that the use of certain drugs is often associated with a particular genre of music:

• Cocaine (measured by its metabolite benzoylecgonine) and ecstasy are often associated with pop/rock festivals and dance.
• Alcohol and tobacco are consumed in greater quantities at metal festivals and multi-genre festivals.
• Cannabis is a constant presence at festivals, regardless of the genre of music. However, it is even more prevalent at pop/rock music festivals. Reggae festivals were not included in the study, but one suspects they would have easily taken the top spot for the heaviest ganja users.

These results are not surprising, since cannabis—as evidenced by the results of the UNODC's 2018 World Drug Report – is the most widely used drug in the world, and its use cuts across all age groups and social classes. It is not surprising that it also transcends musical genres, even though it has been culturally appropriated in ways marked by the genres of reggae and Hip Hop.

These major trends observed by the researchers are consistent with the findings of other studies conducted elsewhere in the world on specific festivals. The only difference is that they noted a high prevalence of methamphetamine at the various festivals. The researchers point out that this is specific to the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where this drug is more prevalent than elsewhere in Europe.