A TENT at Jersey Live which allowed festival-goers to snort, smoke and swallow legal drugs in front of police officers was shut down on Saturday.
One person was left unconscious and taken to hospital after a severe reaction from mixing the legal high Spice with alcohol. The JEP was told that the Legal Highs tent ‘ran out of stock’ early into the evening, but it is now understood that it was closed down by stewards.
Throughout Saturday it was selling legal replacements for cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy, offering people the chance to snort substances or smoke herbal highs through bongs — all in front of police officers. A spokeswoman for the States police said this morning that the tent was closed down by stewards, but Jersey Live organisers were not available to comment this morning.
Michael Gafoor, director of Alcohol and Drugs Services, said that he was not aware that this tent was at Jersey Live. ‘This is obviously a very worrying development,’ he said. ‘If people are selling substances of unknown effects it is something that the authorities need to look into. ‘This is encouraging young people to take drugs without knowing the effects.’
Article posted on 1st September, 2008 - 3.00pm
31 Article Comments
Typical, close the legal, safer alternative and push the kids back to the rotten, low down dealers !
there was also a lot of ilegal drugs in there too the ‘millions’ of police there should have been focusing on that…
How on earth is this article front page material?? Where’s the headline about how good the bands were and how much fun people had at the festival or how people came from all over the UK to take part? Instead we are faced with a glaring headline about a little stall selling substances *which are all legal* being shut down. Why? To make the point that Music festival goers = drug taking psychopaths???
There was also a tent that allowed festival goers to drink the legal drug alcohol a drug that kills over 8,000 people a year in the UK .Also festival goers were seen openly smoking the legal drug tobocco that kills 40,000 people a year.I will tell you one thing the legal highs this tent was selling were far less dangerous than the alcohol and tobacco that was for sale.
This is a stupid non article only used to whip up misplaced moral hysteria for people too ignorant to investigate the whole issue of drug use in our society
How can they allow the stall to open and then change their minds and close it. The stall was selling legal products that are already sold in shops in town but someone gets drunk and smokes some spice and all of a sudden the stall gets closed. Did they go and close the alcohol stalls, NO… This event reportedly had more police than Glastonbury even though it is only a fraction of the size, what a waste of money.
I presume they also shut down the tents which were selling the legal drug known as alcohol?
It was my friend who collapsed after taking some of the so called ‘legal drugs’ sold by the LEGAL HIGHS stool. It was obvious something bad was inevitably going to happen, especially when substances like pills and spice were being sold. Surely one of the organizers, security or police force would have had a brain wave and realized that a stall selling illegal drug substitutes for substances like cocaine and ecstasy was going to be dangerous considering the amount of drunk and under aged people that were getting served at the stall. Moreover I am unable to believe that ROLL UP, a stall next to LEGAL HIGHS, was not shut down as it continued to sell the same sort of substances as LEGAL HIGHS throughout the festival. I really just cannot believe that a 15 year old had to go to hospital for a stool encouraging drug usage to be shut down.
This is crazy, the herbal highs sold in that are safe and have not been proven otherwise, if they had then obviously they wouldn’t be able to sell them.
Those kids who were ill took way more than the max dosage stated on the packets and as with paracetamol or any other readily available drug overdosing can cause severe side effects and even death.
The herbal highs come in a pack which contains information regarding ingredients, dosage and warnings such as ‘do not mix with alcohol’, should the user decide to abuse the product then surely they are to blame and not the people selling them nor the product itself.
If Jersey live is going to cause so much of a problem with noise, drink & drugs, then why not knock it on the head! Its as simple as that!
What has Jersey come too ? I would dread to think what my parents’ generation would have thought of this disgusting behaviour, and under the watchful eye of the police too.
Is Jersey so dependent on dodgy money that it has lost its morals?
Better that the island return to a peaceful holiday resort than to see its young folk dragged into the sewers of degredation.
Typical JEP headline blown up out of all proportion no mention of how good it all was, how good the bands were the fantastic weather we had on the saturday ! everyone just chilling.
No wonder people think it’s all about drugs which in fact is NOT the case.
With everyone getting a full body search and having even their umbrellas confiscated causing a wait of up to one hour to get in it would be very unlikely that there would be any illegal drugs in the venue.
There was also a Pepsi tent (testing) giving out free a new red bull type product called ‘Raw’ on the guinea pig audience, and like the police there were more coloured flags inserted in the grounds at JerseyLive than at Glastonbury, but that did not detract from the great atmosphere and festival spirit or the quality of music.
Many girls were not body searched and I saw more than one girl with Es, coke and dope, dishing them out to the rest of their group - obviously they were wise to the security company’s procedures - girls purposely went to male security guys as they were less likely to body search. My bag was barely looked at so if I was that way inclined I could have taken any number of illegal items in with me.
If legal highs was closed by security, they are a bit daft and should have spent more time on the searches on the way in, instead of shutting the gate after the horse had bolted! There were so many illegal substances in there, kids were able to get hold of most things - be grateful the kid who collapsed had only had a bad reaction to spice - it could have been a whole lot worse if it was and overdose on E’s or coke!
Oh my god - I cant beleive Jersey!! The herbal highs tent was selling LEGAL alternative to drugs, far more safe than the large volumes of alcohol being consumed.
Jersey will never get placed on the festival map until ignorant little people stop ruining it by printing such pathetic stories. Why not report the fact the fetival was a success, the music was amazing..no instead they print something so silly.
I say
1. Reduce the amount of security searches going into the festival ( i mean i had an umbrella confiscated as it may be used as a weapon, and although being 25, had to argue to get an adult wrsitband as I didnt have ID, when im clearly not under 18 and with 8 other people with ID on them) -
2. Allow camping
3. Just generally let the people have fun…
Jersey take a good idea then ruin it , and employing more police than Glasto - just a pathetic waste of money.
The truth is that’s evryione knows that there was way more drugs available on this festival than on any other one for various reasons ,one major one being that the security that was there was all UK security ,a lot of drugs were passed over under and over fences in various areas not checked and not known by the UK security ,they should have called in the Jersey Security as per previous years who are aware of the faces,the places and the cautions to take ,security wise this festival was awful ,even I saw drugs being dropped for sale in the festival ,what a shambles considering that there were families and kids all over the place ,imagine what a ecstasy tables would have done to a young kid if found near one of those fences ..
The focus should be on the good organisation of the event and how every band playing were on top form.
However, some people are saying the Legal Highs are safer than those illegal ones… The fact that on the packet of certain Legal Pills it states ‘Not intended for human consumption’ proves that they are unsafe… the stall shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
“substances of unknown effects” They’re herbal highs end of story. They sell em everywhere, at festivals, at markets, all over the internet. If they were life threatening you wouldn’t be able to buy them.
It’s petty headlines like this that embarrass Jersey.
Gafoor, do some research.
DONE.
Perhaps the person who collapsed should have read the label ‘do not mix with alcohol’. Surely these types of tents would make people think twice about buying illegal drugs?
I agree with what has been said by others prior. You didn’t see the booze tent close before time….On the other hand,blatantly sticking a finger up at the law ain’t gonna cut the mustard when it comes to them NOT locking you up until your “Legal Highs” are tested and proven to be so…Kinda chucks a wet blanket on your music festival eh? Rightly said,drink and drugs(whether they be legal or not)don’t mix. But we know that,and, when it actually comes to light that some poor soul has overdone it a bit then the “Wet blanket brigade” come crawling out of the woodwork looking for their pound of flesh,shedding a bad light on “Drug crazed festival goers”….Whether they be drunk or high….
Is the government of Jersey now going to investigate whether these so called legal drugs are safe.I have been told they have been banned in Australia, although I dont know that to be a fact.
From the majority of comments so far it apears most young people think they are safe.Is this wishfull thinking, ignorance or fact ?
Comparisomes with legal drugs such as tobaco and alcohol are dangerouse as there are a lot of controls in place as to who can sell and use them, how much is dangerouse etc.
There are no such controls in place for these “legal highs”.
It is only the shops who have put an age limit on selling them.
There is no law that says they can not be sold to 6 year old outside the primary school gate.
Too many security guards, police and general rudeness from these people.
Jersey live happens once a year and too sell tickets for £80odd you would think you would be able to enjoy yourself instead of getting abuse from security and police.
more security than Glasto! shocking.
This islands a joke, no wonder the tickets didnt sell out this year!
Come on guys. They have these tents at every festival there is. These substances are LEGAL. If you don’t want the tent there then make them ILLEGAL - end of story. Until then you have no right to close them down.
What annoys me quite a lot, is that the product spice seems to be getting a lot of bad press in jersey. There was the incident where a young driver was pulled over for driving erratically and blamed his driving after having smoked spice, however they then found cannabis in his posession and decided he only had that due to having bought spice and it encouraging him to take higher forms of drugs. I’m quite a regular spice user, and never have i ever been pulled over by police following me whilst under the influence of it. It just doesn’t work like that. Neither mixing it with alcohol will leave you unconcious, the uncnociousness would be mostly due to drinking far too much alcohol rather than spice. If spice was causing problems, they would have closed down the spice store right next door to the legal highs shop. Islanders fail to understand and get their facts straight.
I agree with Graeme, absolutely disgusting behaviour!!! What would our parents think!!! people taking legal substances and enjoying themselves and having a good time while listening to good music. Graeme you are so right, there should be no enjoyment and no good times and the morals imposed on us by the people of yesteryear should be upheld!
Anything (herbal or otherwise) that alters moods is NOT safe, period!
For goodness sake, there are plenty of mood-altering medicines that are regularly prescribed, even they are monitored carefully!
Are people really that stupid? If kids can’t have fun without taking drugs might I suggest that their friends aren’t interesting enough and they should change their group of friends. I had a total laugh with my mates and we never needed drugs or alcohol to have a laugh.
‘Festival goers smoke legal highs in front of police’ Wow amazing headline. I drank a can of Coke outside a cafe the other day and a police woman walked past!!
Like other people have stated these tents are at most festivals. What with the place crawling with police, the term ‘Only in Jersey’ springs to mind.
Peanuts can cause a serious reaction to some people, are they to be outlawed? Will alcohol be outlawed next, as we are not going to have it sold at arrivals at Jersey Airport.
1. John Allbut how on earth did a 15 year old consume alcohol and spice?? The complaint as an afterthought isn’t really looking out for their best interests!!
2. Knock Jersey live on the head??? That would just be another thing taken away from the young people of the island like tea in the park! What a great idea it would be to further reduce the reasons for young people to return to the island after university etc and contribute to the ageing population of Jersey! Sleepy little holiday destination?? I dont need to comment on state of Jerseys tourism - its cheaper to go to Florida!!
Legal highs if taken responsibly are safe, not to mention you dont have to take them! People have a mind of their own and can make the decision themselves. I had a really great time at Jersey live but unfortunately made myself ill drinking too much red bull!!!!
This is ridiculous! I dont agree with drugs at all but people here are constantly looking for the worst, it was a great festival so why comment on the 1 idiot in 10 000 who over did (which was probably too much alcohol and sun anyway!)Come on Jersey all this negativity is enough now, just live and let live instead of finding the bad in every single thing that happens, no wonder the island has such a terrible reputation!
To the assholes that take drugs, if you need to take drugs to have fun YOU ARE PATHETIC!!!!
get a dummy and suck it.
DONE!!!
I would just like to say WELL DONE for you James Albutt as you look like the most sensible one in here. By the way people, if you realy want to read what it says on the package of these ’so called’ legal highs…. it says: NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. How can any one in Jersey agrees with selling drugs that mimic Cocaine, Cannabis, ecstasy and LSD, that says on the package NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION!!!! How can Health Services allowed this to happend! How can the States allowed this to happend! The one they sell to mimic ecstasy is called ‘Dove’ and is a PLANT FEEDER!!!!!!! To help Plants to grow!!! Not for humans!!!!
i wholeheartedly agree with bergerac but i propose we go one step further. A total ban on noise followed by the return of our grandparents generations morals. Morals that our great country was built upon, like racism and LSD overuse.