the Delta Festival in Marseille goes all out to protect festival-goers
Reports of attacks with GHB are increasingly numerous. To deal with this, the Delta Festival in Marseille offers an application that can be downloaded to alert and protect potential victims.
Sadly called the “date rape drug”, theGHB (gammahydroxybutyric acid) is a synthetic drug that is increasingly talked about in the middle of the night.
Used as “chemical submission weapon“, it can cause drowsiness, vomiting. Sometimes injected without the knowledge of the victims into a glass, sometimes administered by injection, it can induce in high doses, a slowing of the heart rate and loss of consciousness.
A worrying phenomenon the organizers of the Delta Festival have become aware of. They decided to work twice as hard to protect its festival-goers.
With a network of 450 student associations, Delta France Associations has decided, for the 2022 edition, to create a “safe area“.
“It is an area where potential victims could take refuge in the event of a suspected GHB attack or other type of attack.“, explains Tiphaine Pollier.
She is in charge of the public health and risk prevention and reduction (RDR) campaign for the Delta festival, which will take place on the Prado beaches from June 29 to July 3.
“The victims will be taken care of by a legal or psychological professional. A member of the RDR association, Plus Belle La Nuit, will be able to provide first aid and evacuate him if necessary.“, explains Tiphaine.
She will be accompanied and advised in the event of legal proceedings: “The aim is to collect as much evidence as possible (returnable glasses and drinks, video surveillance images“, explains Tiphaine Pollier
Already in previous editions, the Delta Festival already offered protections for drinks, in order to prevent this colorless and odorless drug from being released.
“Last year, the demand for these protections was so strong that it alerted us. From the first day we had distributed all our stock“, explains Tiphaine.
A sign that the phenomenon is growing and worries festival-goers. This year, the Delta Festival has therefore created a partnership with the application of vigilance and mutual aid between women The Sorority: throughout the festival, and even beyond, people who suspect intoxication will be able to issue an alert via the application.
“The 50 closest people who downloaded The Sorority have released a report, with the photo of the potential victim, and can thus pick them up to lead them to the Safe Zone“, adds Tiphaine Pollier.
The young Marseille festival, which proposed to connect student associations and initiatives, has grown considerably. It is now one of the biggest youth events in the region, with an attendance of 30,000 festival-goers per day.
And since 2016, the Delta Festival has quickly addressed issues of public health and risk reduction. Today there are ten employees out of the 28 who make up the association, who work exclusively on these themes.
Sexual or gender-based violence, prevention of STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections), and raising awareness among drug users, there are many projects.
“In 2020, we carried out a major awareness campaign on nitrous oxide which reaches increasingly young audiences, such as 11-12 year olds.“says Tiphaine.
According to her, the confinements and restrictions linked to the health crisis could have led to an increase in drug consumption: “we observe a certain trivialization in the uses“.
The objective of these actions is not to make recreational consumers feel guilty, but to protect and support the victims, but also to deter potential aggressors.