Highest Point Festival does not condone the use or sale of drugs or the intended misuse of legal substances. Drug enforcement laws are as applicable on the Festival site as anywhere else in the country. We work very closely with the Lancashire Police and Lancaster City Council to ensure that the safety of our attendees is managed to the highest standard.
If you deal in drugs, it is likely that you will be arrested.
Neither anti-social nor illegal behaviour will be tolerated and participants will leave themselves liable for eviction from the site.
We aim for anyone attending to feel they are in an inclusive and safe environment, knowing that we are here to support you. Precautionary and prevention measures at the festival as stated in our welfare and safeguarding plan are highlighted below.
SECURITY
We take security at Highest Point of utmost importance – your safety is our priority.
At the festival gates, this can be very busy at times, please make sure you respect and follow our security, stewarding, and gate staff members’ guidance to ensure you can get into the festival safely and efficiently.
In conjunction with the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016, we do not permit the sale, consumption, or production of any such activities. Our approach to this is if a person/s is found taking, producing, or selling drugs, they will be calmly walked from their location, invited to an enhanced search and this may lead to the removal of you from the festival site.
We want all of our attendees to feel safe amongst our security and festival staff. The following information is provided to ensure all of our attendees are aware of the processes in place to protect everyone on-site and prevent potential incidents or emergencies.
- We will have a Dog Support Unit located at the gates of the festival to detect drugs before entering the site. Please comply with the staff and if a dog is to approach you, please do not panic. If a dog indicates that you may be in possession of any drugs, you will be taken to an enhanced search area, where a more detailed search will take place. This search will be conducted professionally and recorded through our CCTV system.
- Our security teams also have the use of metal detector wands to allow additional searches which will be randomly performed at the security search area. This is to increase the safety of everyone on site, please be reassured that we do not expect or predict an increase in crime at the festival, this is simply to support the efficiency of our security teams and Lancashire Police services.
- Should you choose to bring drugs or other banned substances to The Highest Point Festival you may dispose of them in the Amnesty Bins at the entry point to the festival and no further action will be taken.
DRUG SAFETY ADVICE
In the event of consuming a suspected substance please consider the following advice.
- If you are unsure, or concerned about something you may have taken please visit our welfare team or approach the nearest member of staff who will guide you to the welfare area.
- Please treat all drugs and their strength as unknown.
- If you are consuming a pill or powdered substance and do not feel anything within the first 2 hours, do not take more as you will be putting yourself at a high risk of overdosing.
- While dancing and moving around the festival site in potentially warm weather, please remember to take regular breaks, drink water and find shade on those warm sunny days.
- It is recommended that you take small sips of water or soft drinks and consume no more than 1 pint of fluid over the space of an hour.
- Mixing alcohol and drugs is not advised, this can be very dangerous and potentially fatal. Please see the further resources section below which contain useful tools and more information on this.
- Please make sure that you surround yourself with people you trust and feel safe with. Highest Point is proud of its lovely community, though it is always best to be with friends and family that can support you to get help if needed.
Our on-site welfare team is equipped with extensive knowledge and experience in the event of an individual starting to feel unwell. A supervisor within the welfare team will have drug awareness qualifications to manage any case where this may arise.
The welfare area is located directly next to the medical tent, which can be found on the right-hand side just down from the main arena as if you are exiting the festival (opposite the lake)
NEW PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES
Nitrous Oxide ‘Nos’ otherwise known as laughing gas, was previously a legal high, though the sale of it is now prohibited in UK legislation.
We will ensure anyone who is found with this trying to enter or while on site will be removed from the festival.
There are a number of dangers associated with Nos, please act with caution if you do happen to take some, it does not mean you are safer because it used to be considered legal.
ALCOHOL
Throughout our festival site, we operate a strict challenge 25 policy on all of the bars.
- Please take it slowly, when consuming alcohol, make the effort to mix it with non-alcoholic beverages such as soft drinks or water so you can stay hydrated and do not approach being too intoxicated.
- Mixing alcohol, such as spirits and beer is not advised. Please be aware if you are at the festival all day, choose a lower percentage of drinks to pace yourself throughout the day.
- Alcohol-induced behaviour is often the result of many incidents at festivals, so please be extra cautious when at the festival and never feel pressured into a situation you may feel uncomfortable with.
- We do not tolerate any kind of anti-social behaviour, which can often be induced by drinking too much. If you witness or are involved in any such incident, please find the closest member of staff who will handle this matter appropriately to ensure the safety of all those involved.
- Bar staff has the right to refuse you if you are deemed too intoxicated, please cooperate with all of our staff who are there to put your safety first.
- If you are under the age of 18 and caught with alcohol, we will follow our safeguarding procedures. You will be taken to our welfare area, where steps will be taken to find your responsible adult if for any reason you are separated from them.
- In the event of coming across someone who is unconscious or incapacitated, please find the nearest member of staff who will contact the medical liaison team to help them get to the medical area safely.
FURTHER RESOURCES AND INFORMATION
The Loop Resources: https://wearetheloop.org/resources
Festival Safe Information: https://www.festivalsafe.com/information/drugs-alcohol
Substance Awareness: http://www.thedrugswheel.com/
