Questioning the Legality of Drug Testing Kits at Music Festivals like Bonnaroo
For five days each summer, the Old McAllister 750 acre farm located outside of Manchester, Tennessee becomes the sixth largest city in Tennessee, jam-packed with nearly 100,000 people when Bonnaroo comes to town. The largest music festival in the United States, Bonnaroo takes over the sleepy little town of Manchester with its 10,000 residents located 65 miles southeast of Nashville. Bonnaroo employs a private security force that handles most problems. According to an article on Governing.com, the sheriff’s office answers calls within Bonnaroo on an as-needed basis, taking on only those issues that the private security force is not able to handle.
The largest crime problem at Bonnaroo is illegal drugs. There have been 10 deaths in the ten years of the Bonnaroo festival, with two in 2015. (A story on Stereogum.com includes an infographic with the names of the big music festivals and the favored drug at those festivals. Mushrooms, Marijuana and Crack Cocaine seem to be the Top Three.) One of the challenges is that those drugs are often cut with other substances, or are complete fakes.
Fake or adulterated drugs can be even more harmful than the actual drug; users may be poisoned or overdose when they end up ingesting these strange mixes of substances. Organizations such as the Bunk Police, which is a somewhat underground group that sells drug testing kits at music festivals worldwide, help consumers test the drugs before they ingest them. The group’s founder, Adam Auctor, said in a story on Mic.com “I think everybody really knows what really goes on at these events. It’s no secret.” Festival goers are hospitalized, overdose and die due to fake and adulterated drugs being sold at these large music festivals. Auctor told Mic magazine, “We’re not promoting drug use. We’re making it safer for the people that choose to participate.” The Bunk Police find adulterants in 70 to 90 percent of the substances they test, and a complete replacement – fakes – between 30 and 50% of the time. Bonnaroo is one of the worst venues for fake and adulterated drugs.
The story in Mic magazine reports that in the venues where the Bunk Police are able to operate, the adulteration rate plummets. In previous years, Bonnaroo had turned a blind eye and allowed the group to sell drug testing kits, but in 2015 they were shut down and about 500 of their test kits were confiscated by Bonnaroo security.
In an “Ask the Festival Lawyer” column on Fest300.com, when questioned about the legality of drug testing kits, the response was that the issue comes down to each state’s laws on what constitutes drug paraphernalia. Stephanie Jones of the Drug Policy Alliance has begun to compile research on how the various states treat drug testing kits under their local paraphernalia laws. The beginnings of the research project looks at whether drug testing kits are prohibited in that state, and whether the state criminalizes or punishes an individual’s possession, manufacturing, distribution or sale of these kits.
What you face with a drug conviction
There are significant penalties for drug crime convictions in Tennessee and the consequences of a drug crime conviction extend far beyond the judicial ramifications to include thins such as:
- Losing your job
- Loss of a professional license
- Disqualification for federal student aid
- Disqualification for public assistance programs such as public housing
- Complicate custody and visitation with minor children
More serious consequences of illegal drug use is the chances of overdose and death from using fake or adulterated illicit drugs.
You attend Bonnaroo or another music festival looking forward to having a great time and then you get slapped with a citation. You do not want this one lapse in judgement to cloud your future, so you can contact the Law Offices of Adrian H. Altshuler & Associates for an aggressive Columbia or Franklin DUI, or drug charges defense attorney right away. We work with you and your family even if you live out of state.