Party Safe | AFA Website

Patron Training

Our free Patron Safety Training takes just a few minutes and is designed to help you look out for yourself and others at festivals. It covers simple, practical ways to stay safe, support your mates and contribute to a better festival experience for everyone.

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Free Staff Training Available

In addition to our Patron Safety Training, we also offer a free version designed specifically for festival and event staff.

This training helps staff and crew understand their role in supporting a safe and inclusive environment, and provides practical tools for responding to incidents onsite.

To request access, please get in touch with us at info@afa.net.au

Harm Minimisation Information

Drugs

The Drug, The Person, and The Place

The effect a drug will have on the user – positive or negative – depends on a variety of factors, but can broadly be summarised into three groups: The Drug, The Person, and the Place.

Various factors of the consumed drug will impact the effect on the user:

Chosen drug (and whether the substance is what you intended to consume)
Poly-use (combining multiple drugs)
Frequency of use
Amount used
Purity of drug
Route of administration (orally, inhaled, injected etc)

Various factors of the user will impact the effect of the drug when they use it:

General health of the person
Body size
State of Hydration
Pre-existing medical conditions
Use of other medications
Experience with the drug
Knowledge of the drug

The Place refers to external factors that can influence a person’s experience when using a drug. Examples of the place are:

Location of the experience
Intensity of stimuli
Control over stimuli
Social group person is with
Temperature
Humidity

Types of drugs and general effects

Having basic knowledge about drugs can help you make safer choices & know how to help a mate in need.

Broadly, drugs can be labelled into three types. Stimulants, Depressants and Hallucinogens. Some drugs can be multiple types. Labels are differentiated by the effects the drug have on the central nervous system as well as physical and phycological effects. The Drugs Wheel below breaks these categories down further.

Stimulants

Examples: amphetamine, MDMA, cocaine, caffeine, tobacco (AKA: Speed, Dexxies, Meth, Ice, Tina, Shard, Coke, Blow, Pingas, Dingas, Caps, Coffee)

Stimulants are drugs that have a stimulating effect on the central nervous system. This means there are increased transmitters in the brain and from your brain to your body, making your body and mind more active.

Effects include:

Increased heart rate & breathing
Increased body temperature
Dilated pupils
Increased muscle tension
Increased sensitivity/alertness to stimuli
Confusion
Decreased appetite
Short-term energy boost
Increased sociability sexual desire and performance

Caring for someone under the influence of a stimulant:

Encourage help-seeking behaviour including;
- peer-based support
- onsite medical services including ambulance
- call Triple Zero (000)
Find out what the person has had, how much, and when the last dose was taken
Reassure the person
Watch for changes
Remain calm, patient, and supportive
Avoid hostile or aggressive tone and/or stance
Encourage them to sip water – monitor, how much they consume
Do not douse them in water
If in doubt at any time do not hesitate to seek medical attention.

Signs requiring medical assistance or referral to emergency medical service:

The person is not conscious of their behaviour
The person’s breathing has changed
They have signs of heart problems
They are showing signs of drug overdose:
- Hot and can’t cool down
- Clammy skin
- Dry, red (or pale), hot skin (stopped sweating)
- Dry mouth
- Blue/purple lips
- Eyes rolling back/obvious eye ‘wobbles’
- Foot/leg is uncontrollably shaking
- Rigid muscles
- Unable to walk unassisted
- Locked jaw or repeated jaw clenching (even if otherwise well)

Serotonin Syndrome

Serotonin syndrome is a potentially deadly condition that can occur after using some stimulant drugs- particularly MDMA.

Some signs and symptoms include (but are not exclusive or limited to):

Agitation or restlessness
Confusion
Rapid heart rate and high blood pressure
Dilated pupils
Loss of muscle coordination or twitching muscles
Muscle rigidity (stiffness)
Heavy sweating- a very important sign, even on hot days
Diarrhea
Headache
Shivering
Goosebumps

Severe serotonin syndrome can be life-threatening. Severe signs and symptoms include:

High fever
Seizures
Irregular heartbeat
Unconsciousness
You should immediately seek medical attention for anyone with the above symptoms

Depressants

Example: GHB, Alcohol, Cannabis, Benzodiazepines (Xanax, valium etc), Ketamine (AKA: G, Juice, booze, pot, weed, Xans, bars, Ket, K, Special K, heroin, smack, gear, oxy, codeine)

Depressants are drugs that have a depressant effect on the central nervous system. They cause a decrease of electric signals in the brain and from your brain to your body, making your body more relaxed and lowering your consciousness.

Effects include:

Decreased heart rate & breathing
Decreased body temperature
Decreased muscle tension
Decreased sensitivity/alertness to stimuli
Confusion
Numbness
Loss of motor skills and coordination
Dissociation
Sense of calm and serenity
Abstract and disjointed thinking

Caring for someone under the influence of a depressant:

Encourage help-seeking behaviour
Find out what the person has had, how much, and when the last dose was taken
Encourage them to sip water – monitor, how much they consume
Do not douse them in water – this can lead to hypothermia
If they are vomiting, monitor how much liquid they expel
Be cautious of them sleeping. If they do fall asleep
- make sure they are in the recovery position (below)
- rouse them regularly (at least every 20 minutes)
- monitor breathing
If they become unrousable, seek medical attention
Don’t give water/food to a drowsy/unconscious person

Signs requiring medical assistance or referral to emergency medical service:

The person is not conscious of their behaviour
The person’s breathing has changed
They have signs of heart problems
They are showing signs of drug overdose:
- Hot and can’t cool down
- Clammy skin
- Dry, red (or pale), hot skin (stopped sweating)
- Dry mouth
- Blue/purple lips
- Eyes rolling back/obvious eye ‘wobbles’
- Foot/leg is uncontrollably shaking
- Rigid muscles
- Unable to walk unassisted
- Locked jaw or repeated jaw clenching (even if otherwise well)

Polydrug Use

Polydrug use is when a person uses more than one type of drug, either at the same time or one after another in the same session.

Polydrug use occurs when a person:

uses two or more drugs in combination
uses one drug to counteract the effects (or the after-effects) of another
uses different drugs at different times over a short period

Polydrug use can multiply the risks of individual substances. For example, combining depressants: Consuming GHB and alcohol together massively increases the risk of both.

Fatal overdose as the depressants work together to slow down both the heart and breathing rate and nonfatal overdose, which can result in permanent brain damage.

GHB & alcohol are particularly dangerous to combine as they use the same metabolic pathway. This means GHB can build up in your liver while the alcohol is processed, and then be released all at once in a dangerous overdose.

Other examples are using two stimulants together or using a stimulant and a depressant together.

A useful resource on drug combinations is https://combo.tripsit.me.

As a general rule dangerous combinations include:

Depressants with more depressants
Stimulants with more stimulants
Depressants & stimulants

Hallucinogens

Examples: LSD, DMT, Psilocybin, 2CB etc. (AKA: Acid, trips, tabs, changa, dimitri, mushrooms, shrooms, gold tops, blue meanies)

Hallucinogens are drugs that have an interfering effect on the central nervous system. This means this class of drug interfered with the way electrical signals are transferred in the brain and from your brain to your body, causing changes in perception of reality and thinking.

Psychedelics affect all the senses, especially auditory and visual senses, often leading to hallucinations. Psychedelics alter the way we think, our sense of time, and our emotions. It is likely that each experience will be unique and therefore unpredictable. Even if you’ve taken a psychedelic many times before, psychedelic experiences can be unique and unpredictable.

Effects include:

Stimulant or depressant effects on heart rate and blood pressure
Effects depend on the experience of The Person
Confusion / Anxiety
Intense perception of sensations in/on the body
Meaningful spiritual experiences
Ego death (complete loss of sense of who you are)
Paranoia, fear and panic
Visual hallucinations / kaleidoscopic colours
Dizziness and unsteadiness

Caring for someone under the influence of a hallucinogen/psychedelic:

Reassure the person
Remain calm, patient, and supportive by:
- Meeting their physical needs- warmth, food, water.
- Project a calm confident demeanour- slowing down your speech,
- Take them to a lower stimulus environment
- Help them focus on slow steady breathing,
- Use closed not open questions
- Acknowledge their experience and don’t deny it, or tell them to calm down

Signs requiring medical assistance or referral to emergency medical service:

The person is not conscious of their behaviour
The person’s breathing has changed
They have signs of heart problems
They are showing signs of drug overdose:
- Hot and can’t cool down
- Clammy skin
- Dry, red (or pale), hot skin (stopped sweating)
- Dry mouth
- Blue/purple lips
- Eyes rolling back/obvious eye ‘wobbles’
- Foot/leg is uncontrollably shaking
- Rigid muscles
- Unable to walk unassisted
- Locked jaw or repeated jaw clenching (even if otherwise well)

Other Harm Minimisation

De-escalation

People subconsciously mirror each other’s behaviours and energy levels. This means if you bring aggressive energy, or meet someone else’s aggressive energy with aggression- you will get…. more aggression! If you consciously lower your energy level and remain calm, they are likely to follow suit.

You can do this by:

Slowing your breathing and bringing your awareness to your body
Do not launch into an attack or a defence, even if they are super wrong, take a moment of silence.
Gentle eye contact – be mindful that intense eye contact may be threatening.
Body language – relaxed, open hands, humble expression
Be mindful of your triggers, reactions, and how you personally deal with conflict. Here’s a hint – very few people in the world deal with conflict and criticism well – myself included.
Sometimes standing at an angle rather than front on can be less aggressive
Leaving the situation

Disarming is to take the heat/risk out of a situation or conversation. To better approach a tense, agitated or aggressive patron, try to remember the following phrase:

Thank F*ck for Vexatious Guy’s Advice.

T – Thanking someone for their confrontation

F – Finding some truth in criticism

V – Validating an aggressor’s feelings

G – Giving that person undeserved credit

A – Accepting more responsibility for a situation than you might deserve

Continue to remind yourself that this is nothing to do with you and everything to do with the person in front of you who has their own unresolved traumas and grief and anger.

Often a group situation can exacerbate tensions. It may be necessary for these situations to contact management via radio and/or seek support from other staff or care teams to keep friends and bystanders calm and as distanced from the patron as possible. Try not to draw unnecessary attention that can again make a situation quite performative.