University Drug Use Essay: HLSC122 Assessment 3, Semester 1

This essay critically appraises a research article on illicit drug use among music festival attendees, focusing on the prevalence of drug use, attitudes toward drug checking services, and the impact of these services on drug consumption behavior. The study, conducted at an Australian music festival, employed a mixed-methods approach, including surveys and thematic analysis. The findings revealed high rates of illicit drug use, particularly MDMA and cocaine, among attendees. The research highlighted the potential of drug checking services to reduce harm associated with drug consumption, although implementation faces challenges due to public misconceptions. The essay also includes a case study reflecting on a mother's concerns about drug testing and discusses the need for health education to address false beliefs and promote awareness of the risks and benefits of drug checking services. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for further research and education to mitigate the negative effects of illicit drug use in this context.

Running head: ILLICIT DRUG USE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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ILLICIT DRUG USE
Introduction:
Drug use at a music festival has become a public health safety concern In Australia
which has led to a number of the fatalities recent years. In 2005, 52% of the festival
attendees had taken illicit drugs where the majority of the individuals of 20 to 29. As
discussed by Mohr et al. (2018) the risk associated with illicit drugs such as ecstasy, cocaine
include seizers, multi-organ failure and reduction in normal cognitive function. Because of
the massive difference between the prevalence of drug use in festival attendees and the
general population, it can be said that adolescents attending these festivals are more prone to
the harmful effect of drug abuse (Gjersing et al., 2019). This paper will critically appraise a
research journal and reflect on a case study in the following paragraphs.
Part A:
Authorship:
The authors of the paper include Niamh Day, Joshua Criss, Benjamin Griffiths,
Shireen Kaur Gujral, Franklin John-Leader, Jennifer Johnston and Sabrina Pit. The
researchers involved in designing the study and from the UWS Human Research Ethics
Committee (H11327), they obtained ethical approval.
Research question:
In order to investigate the impact of these drugs, the researchers designed two
research questions. The first research question is what are the pattern and proportion of the
illicit drug used by festival attend and number of attitude they show towards drug checking
services at the music festival.
The second question is what is the influence of these drug checking services on the
behaviour of desired drug consumption?
The rationale behind designing these research questions is that a significant number of
individuals with the habit of using the illicit drug are experiencing the fatal effect of drug use
(Palamar, Acosta & Cleland, 2018). Hence, these two research questions will assist in
investigate the attitude of adults and adolescents towards the drug check services and effect
on intended drug.
Research design:

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In the article, day et al. (2018), have justified research design in the section of
methodology, where a detailed description of selection criteria for participants. Here, a mixed
method has been undertaken by researchers to address the research question such as
quantitative and qualitative method. Brannen (2017), highlighted that mixed method allows
researchers to obtain emotional as well as statistical data which further improve the validity
of the study. Hence, in order to address the research question discussed above, this research
design is appropriate.
Research method:
In order to investigate the proportion and pattern of illegal drug use and impact of
drug testing services on the behaviour of drug uses, day et al. (2018), recruited the festival
attendees as respondents from the major Australian music festival in 2016. The inclusion
criteria for the study was festival attendees of 18 to 30 years. After selection, a total of 642
respondents were recruited in the study. A paper-based survey had been undertaken by
researchers in order to collect data. Before collecting data, participants were asked to provide
an information statement along with the purpose of the study. Greenhalgh et al. (2018), stated
that the survey is the most accurate quantitative study for gaining information from a large
number of population within a short period of time. Hence, it is an appropriate method of
collecting data. At the end of the survey, researchers asked an open-ended question such why
they never questioned the content of drugs. In order to analyse the data, SPSS version 22 as
well as t-test, were used. As discussed by Imhof et al. (2016), SPSS is the most accurate
software for analysing the data within a short period of time. The researcher conducted a
thematic analysis in order to interpret the data of the open-ended question which is the best
suitable method of generating qualitative data into themes (Wang et al., 2017). Hence, the
data analysis method is justified for conducting research successfully.
Results and limitations:
The study conducted by Day et al. (2018) answered the research questions which
guided the entire study. The findings of the research showed that the drug checking services
play a crucial role in reducing the harm associated with consuming illicit drugs at the music
festival since the services reduce the behavior of drug consumption. The result suggested that
92.8% of the respondents who were attending the festival used illegal drugs where 66.7%
took MDMA and 51.2% had taken cocaine. Hence, drug checking services are useful and
mostly preferred by women (Day et al., 2018). The researchers showed that the majority of

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the participants believed that drug checking services are a potential quality control
mechanism of the drug dealer for avoiding unwanted substances (Day et al., 2018). Hence,
the drug consumers reduce the drug consumption of drug checking services uncovered any
unwanted substance which may affect their health and wellbeing. The drug checking services
with the combination of consultation is a potential tool towards the reduction of harm in a
vulnerable group.
While the research has numerous strength, the limitation of the research was that no
data of drug checking services were found and no data found regarding the services used by
drug consumers (Day et al., 2018) . This missing of data further impacted the validity of the
result. As open ended question appeared at the end of the survey, the majority of the
participants did not complete the survey. For obtaining the valid data, the data required to
collect from the participants who are using checking services.
Part B:
The case study highlighted the apprehension of the mother of Emily who is attending
a music festival in Melbourne. Her mother has concerned as she heard that drug testing
services are used in the festivals which further encourages the adolescents to consume more
drugs. The apprehension of her mother is because of the false belief she had and inadequate
knowledge regarding drug testing (Hoegberg et al., 2018). Considering the research article,
one find said that implementation of drug checking services is difficult since a significant
number of people in the population have a false belief regarding the services. Hence it is
difficult to implement in music festivals one find suggested that health education is required
to provide the adolescents regarding the harmful side effects of the illicit drug use (Day et al.,
2018). The time can be a potential barrier since time is very limited to provide health
education. It will take a long period of time to provide education to each adolescent and their
family members. In order to provide education, trained members are required.
Conclusion:
Thus, on a concluding note, it can be said that consuming illicit drugs is common
phenomena in the music festivals, in Australia. The essay intended to identify at what
proportion the illicit drugs affects the young individuals and the impact of drug checking
services on reducing the harm associated with drugs with the assistance of mixed research
method. Result of the research suggested that the majority of adolescents use illicit drugs.

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ILLICIT DRUG USE
The drug checking services potentially reduce the harm associated with drug consumption
since adolescents reduce behavior. However, it is difficult to implement drug checking since
the majority of the population have false regarding the services. Health education is required
to give to each young adults of 18 to 30 years in order to increase awareness regarding drug
checking services. However, time is another barrier to implementing these services in music
festivals.

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References:
Brannen, J. (2017). Mixing methods: Qualitative and quantitative research. Routledge.
Day, N., Criss J., Gujral, S. K., John-Leader, F., Johnson, J., & Pit, S. (2018). Music festival attendees’
illicit drug use, knowledge and practices regarding drug content and purity: a cross sectional
survey. Harm Reduction Journal, 15(1), pp. 1-7
Gjersing, L., Bretteville-Jensen, A. L., Furuhaugen, H., & Gjerde, H. (2019). Illegal
substance use among 1,309 music festival attendees: An investigation using oral fluid
sample drug tests, breathalysers and questionnaires. Scandinavian journal of public
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Greenhalgh, T.M., Bidewell, J., Crisp, E., Lambros, A., & Warland, J. (2018).
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Hoegberg, L. C. G., Christiansen, C., Soe, J., Telving, R., Andreasen, M. F., Staerk, D., ... &
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Imhof, H. K., Laforsch, C., Wiesheu, A. C., Schmid, J., Anger, P. M., Niessner, R., & Ivleva,
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Mohr, A. L., Friscia, M., Yeakel, J. K., & Logan, B. K. (2018). Use of synthetic stimulants
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Palamar, J. J., Acosta, P., & Cleland, C. M. (2018). Attitudes and beliefs about new
psychoactive substance use among electronic dance music party attendees. Substance
use & misuse, 53(3), 381-390.

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Wang, J., Peng, J., Tan, Z., Gao, Y., Zhan, Z., Chen, Q., & Cai, L. (2017). Microplastics in
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