The Ripple Effect: Festival drug fears of Mike Radburn, who has attended 14

After repeated visits to the Falls Festival to supervise his various children, Mike Radburn says he is worried about drugs at the event.

MIKE Radburn has been attending Falls Festival for about 14 years, supervising his various children at the three-day celebration of music and arts.

But he said it was the “least enjoyable” three days of the year for him.

After repeated visits to the festival, he says he is worried that both his children and those he assumes responsibility for could now have increasingly unrestricted access to illicit substances.

Mike Radburn. Picture: EDDIE SAFARIK

“I’m a bit protective, and I’m a bit of a worry wart. I just want to be on site if anything goes wrong,” Mr Radburn, a psychologist, said.

He said usage of drugs at the festival had increased “without a shadow of a doubt”.

He said 12 years ago, 16 and 17-year-old friends of his children smuggled in alcohol, perhaps smoked marijuana and were aware ecstasy was doing the rounds.

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“Compare that to last year when I went, I was the responsible adult for three kids, and they were part of a larger group. I would say that about 60 per cent of a group of 20 to 30 kids would have been drug and alcohol affected at some stage during the three days,” Mr Radburn said. “One of the larger group ended up in the medical centre for four hours after being found unconscious, allegedly on a combination of pills and alcohol.

“If you talked to those medical centre staff, as I did, they would say they were inundated with young — under age — people adversely affected by alcohol and drugs. Security guards can’t do much because they are flat out, and Tas Police do an amazing job considering they are fairly thin on the ground.”

The Ripple Effect, an examination of the devastating impact just one party pill can have, was launched earlier this week.

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The Sunday Tasmanian reported that the Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drugs Council was warning festival-goers that if they choose to ingest illicit substances, such as ecstasy, they could not could not be sure of the ingredients.

Mr Radburn said he was an advocate for pill testing. He said pills had become readily available, and there was a large amount of peer pressure.

“I am absolutely confident that with pill testing on site it would effectively dissuade a large percentage of these young adults embarking on a potentially perilous road.”

Originally published as The Ripple Effect: Festival drug fears of Mike Radburn, who has attended 14