This is why we can’t have nice things. According to The Canberra Times, over 74 revellers at the recent Dragon Dreaming Festival at Wee Jasper managed to smuggle drugs into the long-running bush doof, despite an attendance of just 2,500.
According to the report, two people were arrested for drug supply and numerous others for drug possession, with police ultimately seizing a haul that included cannabis, ecstasy, heroin, ice, and psilocybin mushrooms.
The four-day music and arts festival, which ran from Friday, 24th October till Monday, 27th October near the NSW town of Yass, was subject to a high visibility police operation by Hume and Monaro Local Area Command officers to curb anti-social behaviour and boost safety.
[include_post id=”367567″]
A team of 18 police officers and two drug-detection dogs monitored about 2,500 festival-goers over the four days, in addition to launching an operation targeting drug-driving among drivers leaving the festival on the Sunday.
Though police only subjected 12 motorists to the random drug tests, two people were arrested after allegedly testing positive for prohibited drugs. Their samples have been sent to a lab for further analysis.
As bad as the numbers look, they pale in comparison to last year’s Strawberry Fields music festival, which as Tone Deaf reported at the time, saw nearly half of all drivers tested for drugs come back with positive results.
Police Inspector Evan Quarmby said police were disappointed to see so many people caught with prohibited drugs. “Police were kept busy during the festival with 17 people found with prohibited drugs in the first two hours of the operation,” he said.
[include_post id=”413702″]
“To end up with 74 drug detections is a major concern and police will work closely with festival organisers to ensure future events are safe for everyone attending. The efforts of police in detecting these drugs are highly commendable but we need people attending these events to think about the dangers and conduct themselves responsibly and within the law.”
Festival organisers took to their official Facebook event page yesterday asking for information regarding the whereabouts of Joel Kamerman, writing, “He attended the festival last weekend and his father is worried that he has not heard from him.”
Several commenters have since reported seeing Kamerman, with one saying he saw him at a local pub. “He’s got a lift and seemed to be on his way home,” wrote the user. Anyone with any information is urged to contact festival organisers.
