When you think of Sound System Culture it becomes apparent that despite the political and counter-repressive aspects of the movements a big part to them is the aim to have fun, to express oneself through music and dance, in other words: to party.

When you look at partying throughout the history you will discover that people have always enjoyed putting themselves into a state of trance – be it through rhythm and dance, orgies, or substances like alcohol, cannabis or opium.

Drugs are a major part of party scenes all over the world, and denying that would mean to just ignore a definite fact.

But how are political parties dealing with that fact? How are governments ensuring that these people, who want to party and while at it, get high, can do it in a manner that is safe for them, apart from the given side effects that drug taking can bring with it?

The answer to that is: In Germany, for most of the time, there has been no political approach to it other than denying the situation or using the topic to gain more votes, for example through stigmatizing dealers and spreading fear.

Berlin itself is a known party and clubbing capital, and after years of ignoring the issue, political entities are finally warming up to the idea that while they might not do anything to stop people from taking substances, there are ways to help them do it in safer ways.

On November 7^th, 2018 several organisations (speakers being: Astrid Leicht from Fixpunkt e.V., Nikolas Schrader from the Linksfraktion im Abgeordnetenhaus, Stephan Jäkel from the Schwulenberatung Berlin, moderated by Fabian Kunow from the Helle Panke e. V. – Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Berlin) and people interested in the issue gathered in the rooms of about:blank:// in Berlin to present the current situation on drug information and future options of actual drug checking.

What is meant by drug checking is the possibility for consumers to have their substances tested under safe (not criminalizing) circumstances in order find out about the contents and purity of the drugs.

Drugs bought on the black market – which currently is the only way for consumers to get their hands on mind-altering substances that they might seek – often have a high level of unknown substances added to the mix, as they often go through many different dealers until being sold to the end user. Not knowing what a drug is cut with means putting oneself at a lot higher risk to experience unforeseen side effects and induce very real health issues and threats. Despite that, people`s curiosity for expanding their minds or enhancing their party experience remains strong – which is why the discussion for a safe way to test these substances is becoming inevitably crucial.

In Austria, there is already a program which has been run successfully through many years. CheckIt (https://checkit.wien/) offers drug testing and information as well as counselling for consumers or potential consumers.

On a lot of Austrian freetekno parties – a non-monetary sound system culture that is alive and well in several European states – CheckIt actually had tables on the event offering support, information and on-the-go drug-checking. Consumers could leave their drugs there for about an hour and receive them back, together with publicly shown anonymous test results. Generally one can say that about one third of results were exactly what the substance was expected to be, one third showed that the substance had been cut with other drugs or chemicals, and one third was actually a completely different thing than it was sold as, sometimes containing dangerous or entirely unknown substances.

In Germany, one of the main legal issues is the fact that, if handled like in the Austrian concept, the people testing the drugs would give them back to the “owner”, involving them in a basically criminal act. Also, the discussion of offering drug checking directly on parties is currently off the table, showing that there still is a lot of denial of what the reality on most parties looks like. It seems the government is not ready to admit the lack of control they`re continuously facing with the entire drug issue.

As presented on the event on November 7th (“Drugchecking – Wege in eine vernünftige Drogenpolitik”) the way to work around that problem would be for the consumer to actually leave a small amount of the substance with the testing entity, and not receive any of the given substance back. These places for drug testing would not appear directly on events but rather have drop-in-centers for people to come to.

Fixpunkt Berlin (www.fixpunkt-berlin.de) is the only organisation offering support and a safe environment for drug users (but especially heroin users) that currently exists in Berlin. Here it is possible to receive clean needles and even consume drugs in a warm and clean space. This, however, is not enough.

People who might not be drug addicts per se, but rather have a habit of using or abusing various substances, also need a safe place to go to for information and substance control.

There are no reliable studies on the percentage of people having tried drugs or using them on a regular level, but there are wastewater studies showing that the amount of drugs that is consumed in Germany altogether is everything but small. The wastewater studies showed that in Berlin there are 0,3 gram cocaine, 50 milligram MDMA and even 130 mg speed going down the drain per every 1000 people – and in Chemnitz, for example, they found 15 mg of Methamphetamine per 1000 people.

While places like Fixpunkt are a good and important thing to start with, the discussion must be kept alive and a young or foreign audience must also feel comfortable entering respective spaces to receive honest facts about the drugs available on the black market, which might easily be offered to them on the streets.

Hopes are high that respective contract drafts are soon to be realized and signed.

One other important issue with realizing those places which is currently still being discussed on a legal level is the interference with the police. The police has to agree to refrain from checking on people using these facilities.

One of the arguments is that whoever goes there might as well just be gathering information, and is not necessarily a drug user or owner.

Luckily, steps into a good direction are now being taken.

Every time something is actually being talked about rather than shunned means things are in motion. Hopefully in a close future the reality of drug-taking will shift from being a stigma to being a topic that everyone can get involved it, and decide for themselves if they would rather know exactly what it is they`re taking to enhance their next party experience.