What is back of house testing for drugs?

The HSE runs back-of-house testing for illegal (controlled) drugs at some music and festival events in Ireland as part of the Safer Nightlife programme. Drug samples sourced at these events are tested on-site. The HSE will then release information to the public about its findings, either during or after the event, depending on what they find.

The HSE has run this testing service since 2022. It is designed to provide harm reduction support to people attending nightlife events in Ireland. 

The HSE’s drugs website, Drugs.ie, also operates harm reduction tents at events where back-of-house testing is in place. These tents are safe spaces where people attending events can access literature and speak to trained volunteers about drugs.

Here, we will try to answer some questions that may come up about the HSE back-of-house testing. 

What do we mean by ‘back of house’ testing?

On-site drug testing is when samples of drugs sourced at a participating event, such as a music festival like Electric Picnic, are tested at a field lab.

There are two main types of on-site drug testing; front of house testing and back of house testing. Front of house testing allows a person who has drugs to submit their drugs, have their drugs tested and then receive personalised results showing what was in the sample. Front-of-house involves field lab workers engaging directly with a person about the specific drug sample they submitted. 

Currently, The HSE offers back of house testing. With back of house testing, while the same testing happens, receiving personalised results is not possible. 

To give an example; in a front of house testing scenario, a person at a nightlife event could submit ecstasy pills for testing and be directly informed about the content and purity of the pills they submitted. 

In a back-of-house setting, a person at an event might put their pills in a ‘surrender bin’ for testing. This person would not be directly told about the results of the tests conducted on the pills they submitted. 

However, if the pills they submitted were found to be dangerous in some way, such as if they were high strength, the HSE would put out a message to the public letting event attendees know that there are high-strength pills in circulation.

How does the HSE get samples?

The HSE gets samples for its back of house testing scheme in several ways: 

• Drugs given to medics, or found by medics, following a drug emergency that these medics may have assisted with 
• Drugs given to the HSE by the friends or loved ones of a person experiencing a medical emergency
• Drugs submitted to ‘surrender bins’ located at HSE tents

What is a ‘surrender bin’?

A surrender bin is a box where members of the public can submit their drugs for testing. Any drugs submitted to the HSE’s back-of-house testing will not be returned. They need to be ‘surrendered’ to the testing centre.

Surrender bins are placed at the front of HSE Drugs.ie tents set up at participating events. Anyone who wants to submit a sample for testing may do so without fear. Staff and volunteers at these events want to protect people’s help and do not want to ‘catch’ anyone out. These tents are not monitored by Gardaí.

What does a back of house testing centre look like?

At every participating event, the HSE sets up a testing centre and a Drugs.ie harm reduction tent. The testing centre includes state-of-the-art mobile forensic drug testing equipment.

The Drugs.ie tent is staffed with trained volunteers who are available to answer any questions people at the events might have about drug harm reduction, drug testing and more. The people staffing these tents want to provide a safe space for people to ask any questions they might have. Gardaí do not monitor these tents and would only be called in the event of violence towards staff or members of the public.

How do you find out about the results of the drug testing?

In general, the HSE will provide collective results to the public after a day of testing, such as by telling people that a certain amount of samples were submitted, what kinds of drugs were submitted and more. 

These results will be communicated to people by the harm reduction workers at the Drugs.ie tents. Anyone who is curious can go to the Drugs.ie tent to ask questions they may have.

If the testing suggests that extra risky drugs are in circulation at an event, the HSE will put out an alert on the Drugs.ie social media channels and/or on screens at the event.

While all drugs carry risks, ‘extra risky’ drugs refers to drugs that are high-strength (high potency), drugs that are being mis-sold as one thing when they are actually another, or drugs that contain risky substances (adulterants). 

What does this testing scheme achieve?

The back of house testing scheme helps the HSE gain a deeper understanding of how Ireland’s illegal drug market works. Drug samples tell the HSE what type of drugs are in circulation, or how strong or pure drugs they are.

It also can alert the HSE to whether there are any particularly dangerous substances (adulterants) in circulation and, if so, how these substances are showing up (such as a particular shape or colour pill). It allows the HSE issue timely drug alerts and provide harm reduction advice based on current drug trends.

Having this information helps inform policy around drugs in Ireland. This information can also be relayed to the public so that people in nightlife settings have as much knowledge as possible.