Bunk Police Smuggled 15,000 Drug Test Kits Into Mysteryland USA

This past summer, the Bunk Police smuggled 15,000 drug testing kits into Mysteryland USA's second annual three-day electronic dance music and culture festival held on the grounds of the original Woodstock '69 at Bethel Woods Performing Arts Center. CNN's Lisa Ling caught an interview with Adam Auctor, the CEO behind the harm reduction organization, which is scheduled to air on this Wednesday's episode of This Is Life with Lisa Ling: Electronic Woodstock.

The Bunk Police have been operating as a vigilante drug awareness resource within the harm reduction drug policy movement at festivals and other EDM events for five years. The whole organization operates like this: Auctor, now accompanied by other volunteers, help festival attendees test their drugs for content and potency while also distributing informative flyers. As EDM.com reports in Auctor's words, "there are quite a few deaths every year from adulterated substances and permanent injuries that occur, so we know that this prevents some of that." The Bunk Police ethos is based on the acknowledgement of the intrinsic connection between festival culture and recreational drug use; the point is to help keep others within the festival community safe, not necessarily sober.

So why smuggle the test kits into festivals like Mysteryland? As YourEDM explains, "festivals risk liability by tacitly allowing test kits on the premises, citing the RAVE Act, and the supposed willingness and acknowledgement of drugs on site." Festivals held in the U.S. therefore adhere to and enforce zero tolerance policies, arresting attendees caught with drugs in their possession, and by default prohibiting drug testing kits. Despite the obviously good intentions behind Auctor's organization, festivals often turn the organization away: when Bonnaroo shut down the Bunk Police this past summer, it was only one of countless such examples. As Thump reported this summer, "Auctor has lost thousands of dollars from police confiscations, faced the threat of prison time, and been forced to conduct secret, illegal research-all in the name of helping drug users stay safe."

The Bunk Police aren't the only vigilante volunteer service working to keep concertgoers safe--Dance Safe's tents can often be found at the same events, offering water refills and drug testing services along with information as well. Dance Safe is also often shut-down (most recently they were turned away from Electric Forest).

In a heartfelt essay posted on CNN this week, Lisa Ling shares her own experiences as a self-proclaimed "'90s Rave Queen," asserting that there is a connection between EDM culture and MDMA use, and while there is not a lot that major festivals can do to prevent overdoses and other drug-related tragedies, they can do something. Read Ling's full essay here.

Watch the trailer for This Is Life with Lisa Ling: Electronic Woodstock, below.

Tags

Mysteryland, Cnn