Sales of legal highs have been banned at more than 20 UK music festivals.
The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) has stopped traders selling legal highs at its events because they are a “serious concern”.
On Monday, 26 festivals’ websites and social media accounts took part in a 24-hour ‘digital blackout’ – each homepage showed a grey light bulb against a black window, and the message “Don’t be in the Dark about Legal Highs”.
Issue
Ben Turner, AIF’s co-founder and vice-chairman, said the issue is only going to grow.
“Legal highs are a serious concern for any festival organiser”.
“Banning it at our festivals is only part of the battle however, we need to make fans aware of the dangers of legal highs and help them make safer choices when having fun on-site”, he commented.
Reach
AIF, the members of which include Bestival and Secret Garden Party, said that the blackout campaign has the potential to reach millions of people online.
Last week, Home Office Minister Norman Baker said “all options” are being considered on the problem of legal highs.
Speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme, Baker said the growing legal high market is “challenging, complicated and difficult”.
Illegal
“They are inaccurately and unhelpfully called legal highs – some of them are actually illegal – but they’re certainly not safe and people are consuming them”, he added.
When asked about regulation and licensing of legal high shops, Baker said: “We have to come up with a solution.
“We’re open-minded about what that solution is”.
The Home Office has previously said it has no intention of licensing legal high shops.