Catherine Knox
Teenagers as young as 13 and 14 were treated for drug overdoses at last weekend’s annual Splashy Fen music festival, near Underberg, in KwaZulu-Natal.
Dr Grant Lindsay, who has been providing emergency services at the festival for the past seven years, said he treated seven to 10 people a night for overdoses or drug-related problems during this year’s folk jamboree.
Lindsay and his paramedic did all-night shifts during the festival. “Crack, steroids, cocaine, speed, Ecstasy, LSD, Mandrax … you name it, they had it,” he said on Sunday, exhausted as the last revellers straggled away. “Several of these people would have died if we hadn’t been on standby. One chap had a pulse rate of 200.”
There was also an increase in asthma attacks: “Asthmatics who had thought they were stable were brought in with attacks caused by a combination of drugs, fresh air and dust. We saw eight or 10 a night.”
A police roadblock was set up near Boston in an attempt to keep drug dealers out over the weekend, but Lindsay believes drug “stashes” may have been hidden in the area weeks before.
The organiser of Splashy Fen, Peter Ferraz, said the roadblock was a complete waste of time. “Last year they [the police] recovered 450g of dagga, and yet something like 20 sacks of the stuff comes through this way from Bushman’s Nek to the coast every week.”
Lindsay has warned Ferraz and his partner Bart Fokkens that deaths are increasingly likely. “Someone’s going to die here,” he said. The organisers provided Lindsay’s medical services.
Ferraz said undercover narcotics policemen go to the festival, staying incognito all weekend and picking up leads. “I would rather they came openly and acted as a deterrent. I’m going to publicise the fact that there are undercover drug people here. I want people to know that the laws of the country apply at Splashy Fen too,” he said.
“I think the police should set up a tent and use it as a public relations exercise. People could go to them. We’ve had some children upset by people trying to sell them drugs – and even trying to buy from them. I disapprove of drugs in any form.”
Ferraz said Splashy Fen brings about R1-million into the Underberg area each year. “There are problems, but if we engage with them, we can keep this thing on course. I have been aware for a number of years that a steering hand is needed.”
Initially locals were goggle-eyed at the motley crowds Splashy Fen draws but now Underberg is indulgent, amused, even proud of its “hippy” festival. Farmers and villagers take their children along as day visitors to enjoy the music and the people.
But, said Lindsay: “They don’t realise what else is going on.”