Lister

By Stefan Singh Kailay
Translation by Sara Marie Atkinson

On the festival site between Cosmopol and Astoria, a colourful bus is parked behind a white picket fence. The words "Are You Experienced" are painted on the front, while mushrooms, flowers and wild colours adorn the rest of the bus. It is an initiative from the organisation "Bagmændene" (the backers - red.) and it is the fourth year it can be found at the festival. Volunteers hand out fruit and water, while the festival guests can cool down with a footbath and be informed about the effect of drugs on body and mind.

The glorious trip

"We enter into a dialogue with people. In no way do we encourage the taking of drugs, but we advise people about how they can make sure they have a safe festival if they should choose to take drugs," Andreas Sørensen explains. He is the chairman of "Bagmændene", who are behind the initiative. He is himself a former drug abuser and has thus felt on his own body how great the costs of drug use can be. "We try to avoid moralising, that is, we acknowledge the gloriousness of an awesome trip, but at the same time it can go horribly wrong."

Magnus, a young festival guest, is standing outside the bus reading a leaflet about drugs: "Of course I experience people on drugs, but people seem to be surprisingly good at taking care of each other out here. But I think it is important to inform people about the harmful effects of drugs."

People off their faces

One of the problem areas that "Bagmændene" want to draw attention to is the spread of the drug GHB. "It affects the central nervous system and suppresses your breathing if you take too much. And you rarely know how much you really take, because a dose can contain different amounts of GHB, depending on the purity," Andreas says and continues:

"Our most important goal is to ensure that people have a good festival. We need to make sure that they are at the festival and not in the hospital". His assessment is that the extent of drug use is not all that great, but it is still an element of the festival that needs to be taken seriously: "I have been cycling around the camp site looking. The young people are here, and they are off their faces."

The "Are You Experienced" bus is parked between Cosmopol and Astoria and it is open for passengers round the clock during the festival. A spotlight lights up the night sky so you can find the bus after dark.