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Frank Warburton assesses the government's new 10‐year drug strategy. He takes as a benchmark the guidance given to crime and disorder reduction partnerships in Delivering Safer Communities. Against this benchmark he finds the strategy wanting in several areas. These include a lack of analysis, a limited evidence base and unclear targets. These failings are due, in part, to the strategy's attempts to address several different audiences and do several different jobs simultaneously.

Commonly known as ecstasy, MDMA has been central to the British acid house, rave and dance club scene over the last 20 years. Figures from the annual national British Crime Survey suggest that ecstasy use has declined since 2001. This apparent decline is considered here alongside the concurrent emergence of a ‘new’ form of ecstasy ‐ MDMA powder or crystal ‐ and the extent to which this can be seen as a successful rebranding of MDMA as a ‘premium’ product in the wake of user disenchantment with cheap and easily available but poor quality pills. These changes have occurred within a policy context, which in the last decade has increasingly prioritised the drugs‐crime relationship through coercive treatment of problem drug users within criminal justice‐based interventions, alongside a focus on binge drinking and alcohol‐related harm. This has resulted in a significant reduction in the information, support and treatment available to ecstasy users since the height of dance drug harm reduction service provision pioneered by the Safer Dancing model in the mid‐1990s.

Continuing our spotlight on services we bring you the incredible story of the UK's most outspoken and influential organisation on drug law and policy. Transform campaigns to remove prohibition and replace it with legal controls. After 12 years of campaigning, near bankruptcy and six months on the dole Danny Kushlick gives here a personal account of his rise from a drug counsellor to leading voice and foundation director in the pursuit of better, braver and more responsible drug policies.

This study aims to assess service user characteristics, uptake and outcomes for drug checking services offered to over 250,000 English festival-goers in summer 2018 and to compare findings with earlier years, wider festival-goers and the general population.

A total of 2,672 substances of concern were submitted by the public and tested by chemists in mobile laboratories on 24 show days at seven festivals. Results were embedded in 2,043 individually tailored brief interventions (BI) delivered by health professionals to 4,240 service users. Comparative data were collected through anonymous self-report surveys with 1,291 respondents at five of the same festivals.

Three percent of drug-using festival-goers received BI, 95% of whom had not previously accessed health services regarding their alcohol or other drug use. Drug checking service users were significantly more likely to be younger, male and past month polydrug users with a wider range of drugs consumed in the last month compared with the general festival population. For samples matching purchase intent, nearly half intended to reduce dosage, with younger and female service users significantly more likely to reduce dosage. For substances identified as other than expected, nearly two thirds disposed of them.

Festivals are potential sites to deliver innovative health interventions and to monitor their outcomes, reduce the risk of poisoning and overdose, and facilitate access to follow-up support services.

This study suggests that there is value in event-based services that provide risk reduction communications directly to young adults engaged in higher risk drug use compared with wider event and general populations.