Alcohol consumption and illicit drug use among young music festival attendees in Australia

Abstract

Vanessa is a youth-led service promoting road safety at music festivals. We conducted a cross-sectional survey at 23 festivals in Victoria, Australia to investigate alcohol and illicit drug use among attendees aged ≥16 years who visited Vanessa. Participants completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test - Consumption (AUDIT-C) and reported recent illicit drug use and intentions to use drugs at festivals. Multinomial and logistic regression identified correlates of risky drinking and drug use. 2305 participants were recruited (60% female, median age 22). Most (98%) consumed alcohol in the past year and 26% had high-risk AUDIT-C scores. Almost half (48%) reported recent drug use and 24% intended to use drugs at festivals. Females had lower odds than males of recent drug use [adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=0.49, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.38, 0.62], intending to use drugs at festivals (AOR = 0.60, CI = 0.45, 0.80) and lower risk of high-risk drinking (adjusted relative risk ratio (ARRR)=0.35, CI = 0.27, 0.47). Attending electronic music festivals was associated with high-risk drinking (ARRR = 2.07, CI = 1.14, 3.72), recent drug use (AOR = 2.23, CI = 1.42, 3.51) and intending to use drugs at festivals (AOR = 1.90, CI = 1.15, 3.14). Vanessa was a useful setting to reach young people reporting risky alcohol consumption and illicit drug use. Genre of music festivals may be useful for tailoring harm reduction strategies.

Keywords:

• Young adult
• music festival
• alcohol
• illicit drugs

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the Vanessa staff who implemented the survey at festivals. We thank the participants who took the time to complete the survey. CD and MR are supported by Australian Government Research Training Program stipends. CW is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Early Career Fellowship, PD by an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship and ML by an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Victorian Government Operational Infrastructure Support Program received by the Burnet Institute.

Disclosure statement

HR is employed by the funder, the TAC. HO works for an organization that provides a service to the participants at music festivals that is also funded by the TAC. Both provided input on study design and implementation and commented on the manuscript. They had no role in data analysis or results presentation but provided input into interpretation. PD has received investigator-driven funding from Gilead Sciences and Indivior for work unrelated to this study. All other authors declare no competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced this work.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Transport Accident Commission (TAC), Victoria.