Dissertation survey on the normalisation of recreational drugs at dance music festivals

[SwedgeAntilles]

I can't stand mushrooms. Even the promise of reaching a higher state of consciousness couldn't convince me to eat them. 

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

3 hours ago, BlackZeppelin said:

As a lapsed Protestant....it just made me want to take drugs at a festival 

I know where you are coming from. Fortunately I am now (almost) fully lapsed as far as Catholicism goes. It's only every blue moon that I get a little wobble and doubt the intelligence behind some of my more hedonistic ways. It was seeing the list of drugs and being obliged to saying yes to having taken almost all of them that temporarily derailed me. Still, I've just had a line of speed and am feeling theologically much better now.

[Spindles]

3 hours ago, BlackZeppelin said:

Can anyone exlain why shrooms are illegal? They are basicaly nature's way of chilling out and appreciating the planet.

I seem to remember them being legal in the UK not so long ago...in Australia they are illegal but it is the world's greatest Nanny state.

I don't know about chilling out, it's nature's way of making the wallpaper move on it's own and turning the sky flickery purple.

I think they blanket banned psychedelic fungi because of all the imported stuff you could buy in headshops, which was basically sidestepping the drug laws and allowing a for-profit industry in psychoactives.  Pretty much the same reason for the ban on emerging psychoactive substances which came after, I believe and nothing to do with harm reduction or public protection.

[danegg]

This simultaneously made me want to take drugs and feel a bit odd about seeing all the ones i've taken all lit up.

All done, anyhow.

[JLWilliams17]

1 minute ago, danegg said:

This simultaneously made me want to take drugs and feel a bit odd about seeing all the ones i've taken all lit up.

All done, anyhow.

haha, yee a few people have said the same thing . Thanks for your time ! 

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

5 hours ago, BlackZeppelin said:

I seem to remember them being legal in the UK not so long ago...in Australia they are illegal but it is the world's greatest Nanny state.

They used to be legal in the UK, but it was a fair number of years ago now. I remember running out of them at one Glastonbury and there, handily enough, was a stall openly selling them. In fact, it was the only thing that they were selling. If I remember rightly they had to be kept moist for them to be regarded as legal, as any drying out of them was deemed to be 'curing' them, which was illegal. My local head shop used to import them from various places around the world so that you were able to try different types. They even had an out of hours number that you could ring to get them when the shop wasn't open. I recall buying £150 worth of South American mushrooms from them for use at one of my friends 40th birthday weekend celebrations on Lundy Island. They came in £10 bags and I gave a bag to 9 other people on the first night and ate the contents of a bag myself. What happened next is too long a story to tell here, but has gone down as one of the more memorable 40th birthday celebrations among my mates. 

[Mezhyp1]

5 hours ago, BlackZeppelin said:

Can anyone exlain why shrooms are illegal? They are basicaly nature's way of chilling out and appreciating the planet.

I seem to remember them being legal in the UK not so long ago...in Australia they are illegal but it is the world's greatest Nanny state.

Cause they're tripppppppy and the government didn't like people having a good time

[eFestivals]

24 minutes ago, Mezhyp1 said:

Cause they're tripppppppy and the government didn't like people having a good time

.... for FREE!!!!

 

[amfy]

I've done it. It was nice to do a survey that was a bit different rather than a generic festivals one like we usually get on here.

the thing I found a bit difficult was that I used to do illicit drugs but not in the last year.  So I answered a few of the questions as if I was answering when I used to take drugs. I thought I'd mention this in case it skews the data and numbers don't add up.

Does security deter me from taking drugs in?' - yes it does - it makes me think about it a lot, and I find it scary, but in the end if I want to take them in, I wil. So maybe I have a weird definition in my head of the word 'deter' but I'd say, it deters me, but it doesn't stop me. (Or it didn't when I used to)

[JLWilliams17]

2 minutes ago, amfy said:

I've done it. It was nice to do a survey that was a bit different rather than a generic festivals one like we usually get on here.

the thing I found a bit difficult was that I used to do illicit drugs but not in the last year.  So I answered a few of the questions as if I was answering when I used to take drugs. I thought I'd mention this in case it skews the data and numbers don't add up.

Does security deter me from taking drugs in?' - yes it does - it makes me think about it a lot, and I find it scary, but in the end if I want to take them in, I wil. So maybe I have a weird definition in my head of the word 'deter' but I'd say, it deters me, but it doesn't stop me. (Or it didn't when I used to)

Thankyou for taking the time to do the survey and for your kind comments. I am hoping to be able to make a comparison between festivals and nightclubs, concluding that festivals are more lenient than nightclubs, and how this demonstrates greater social acceptance of illicit drugs, supporting the normalisation theory. For instance, getting caught in a nightclub with drugs will usually end up with that person getting kicked out. Whereas, from experience, security at festivals are much more lenient, and some will simply as users to be more discreet. However, i believe they do have high security upon entering festivals. So for instance, whilst security does not deter users from using drugs, it does deter some users from bringing drugs into the festival. And this may lead to issues of buying from unknown dodgy dealers inside festivals. 

[joeyjarman]

Done, good luck in your studies

[JLWilliams17]

4 minutes ago, joeyjarman said:

Done, good luck in your studies

Thankyou very much !  

[guypjfreak]

21 hours ago, JLWilliams17 said:

Hey guys, i am doing a dissertation on drug culture at festivals. Questions ask basic demographics, views on festivals and general drug use. Answers are anonymous and will take 4 minutes max. Please help a sister out and complete a survey! It will be very much appreciated ! Thanks   https://mmuqstep.eu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6VzXB38swTGh1yd

https://mmuqstep.eu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6VzXB38swTGh1yd

https://mmuqstep.eu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6VzXB38swTGh1yd

Done cos I'm trying not to be fucking pissed off about being pissed off... 

[JLWilliams17]

4 minutes ago, guypjfreak said:

Done cos I'm trying not to be fucking pissed off about being pissed off... 

Thankyou! Good karma is coming your way !

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

2 hours ago, JLWilliams17 said:

I am hoping to be able to make a comparison between festivals and nightclubs, concluding that festivals are more lenient than nightclubs, 

Shouldn't you be allowing the answers to form the conclusion rather than pre-concluding before you have the answers?

[JLWilliams17]

Just now, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

Shouldn't you be allowing the answers to form the conclusion rather than pre-concluding before you have the answers?

No. That is the hypothesis i have come to through research and experience. The research collected will either validate or reject the hypothesis 

[alien]

Completed the survey, bit concerned about what passes for a nightclub though. I've been to many "nightclubs" that were simply just warehouse spaces with a few very lenient bouncers on the door.

[JLWilliams17]

Just now, JLWilliams17 said:

No. That is the hypothesis i have come to through research and experience. The research collected will either validate or reject the hypothesis 

I am a supervisor of a nightclub, in which there is cctv and more doorstaff to population in comparison to festivals. I work festivals every year, and a lot of the security and stewards will tell you that they are not bothered about drug use. Their main focus to control supply, provide a safe environment, and to intervene if their is an anti social behaviour. So overall, i believe that festivals are more lenient than clubs 

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

8 minutes ago, JLWilliams17 said:

No. That is the hypothesis i have come to through research and experience. The research collected will either validate or reject the hypothesis 

I think I've got you now. Is the research that you have already done separate to the research you are doing on this site?

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

6 minutes ago, JLWilliams17 said:

 So overall, i believe that festivals are more lenient than clubs 

Does that necessarily tie in with your normalisation theory? There would be a school of thought that would argue that club door staff don't accept drugs coming in because they already have dealers within the clubs who give them a kick back. Not only that but club door staff can, and do, confiscate drugs on the door, in the toilets etc and then go on to sell those very same drugs to punters directly. Are you saying that this isn't prevalent in clubs?

[JLWilliams17]

26 minutes ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

I think I've got you now. Is the research that you have already done separate to the research you are doing on this site?

Yes. I have to do a literature review before hand, and i am doing interviews along side the surveys to give detail to statistics. A lot of the comments so far have illustrated that security at festivals is much more lenient that nightclubs, why has validated by hypothesis. The normalisation theory suggests there is a growing acceptance of illicit drugs  amongst a social group. So for instance, the leniency of security, and the fact they turn a blind eye to drug use, would suggest that there is a trend to social acceptance (which could be anything a participant chooses to voice. So for instance, festival stewards, fashion and creativity through trippy art and design could all be factors to a growing social acceptance). 

19 minutes ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

Does that necessarily tie in with your normalisation theory? There would be a school of thought that would argue that club door staff don't accept drugs coming in because they already have dealers within the clubs who give them a kick back. Not only that but club door staff can, and do, confiscate drugs on the door, in the toilets etc and then go on to sell those very same drugs to punters directly. Are you saying that this isn't prevalent in clubs?

As for clubs, research has been done to suggest that drug use is normalised in the night time economy. My research isnt based on clubs as there is already research there. It is just a simple comparison of statistics to represent festivals, which are currently under-researched  

[JLWilliams17]

27 minutes ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

Does that necessarily tie in with your normalisation theory? There would be a school of thought that would argue that club door staff don't accept drugs coming in because they already have dealers within the clubs who give them a kick back. Not only that but club door staff can, and do, confiscate drugs on the door, in the toilets etc and then go on to sell those very same drugs to punters directly. Are you saying that this isn't prevalent in clubs?

But yes i agree, it is definitely prevalent in some clubs and some festival security 

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

2 minutes ago, JLWilliams17 said:

But yes i agree, it is definitely prevalent in some clubs and some festival security 

Oh, I know. We ran out of some drugs at Glastonbury one year. My stepson said that he had a vague connection with one of the security on the gates and that he'd call him to see if he had any kit we could buy. When he got off the phone he said that the bloke did have loads of kit for sale but that it was stuff that he had confiscated from punters on their way in. Needless to say, we decided to go without rather than go down that shoddy avenue.

[warriormonk]

21 hours ago, Chawk said:

 When it comes to the 'normalisation of recreational drugs' I'd say alcohol is the most important to talk about though. People treat it like it's nothing and that it's somehow safer than illegal drugs just because the law allows it, which isn't the case at all

Good point....although whenever anyone points this out, I can't get Chris Morris out of my head! 

 

[BlackZeppelin]

10 hours ago, SwedgeAntilles said:

I can't stand mushrooms. Even the promise of reaching a higher state of consciousness couldn't convince me to eat them. 

Try them in dried out in a  capsule..you don't taste them at all.