Latest news with #ThisMustBeThePlace
Washington Post
10-06-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
Music festivals have become more open to harm reduction initiatives. How far will it go?
NEW YORK — The sounds of muffled percussion and audience cheers reverberate throughout the grounds. Brand activations, makeshift bars and restaurant pop-ups control traffic as a sea of bodies move from set to set. Sandwiched between is a row of nonprofits across familiar causes: hunger, housing and voter registration. It's a common music festival scene, until closer inspection. There is a new table, This Must Be the Place. The Ohio-based nonprofit offers attendees free opioid overdose reversal treatment and training on how to use it, an education acquired in under two minutes. Just a few years ago, their inclusion might've been unthinkable amid murky regulations and a lack of public awareness surrounding harm reduction. Advocates say drugs are commonly consumed at music festivals, making them ideal locations for harm reduction activities. While more music festivals are allowing such activities, activists are pushing for expanded efforts as some festivals remain cautious. Founded by William Perry and Ingela Travers-Hayward in 2022, This Must Be The Place has since given away an estimated $4.5 million in naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal medication, at festivals and smaller community events. In the very beginning, without a 'proof of concept,' as Perry describes it, they had trouble partnering with festivals. Eventually, a few festivals in the Midwest agreed to let them table, which 'got us in the door with Bonnaroo in 2022,' says Perry, referring to the major U.S. festival operated by C3 Presents, one of the largest concert promoters on the planet. Now they have a presence at 35 major U.S. festivals — including Lollapalooza, Governors Ball and Besame Mucho — where they collaborate directly with C3 and their security personnel. The organization's growth overlaps with advancing federal regulations. According to Daliah Heller, vice president of overdose prevention initiatives at the global public health nonprofit Vital Strategies, naloxone distribution used to be determined by state regulations until 2023, when the Food and Drug Administration approved the first over-the-counter nasal spray. 'We no longer need the prescription laws to be amended to allow for the distribution of naloxone,' she says. 'Now it's like buying aspirin — it's over the counter.' Last year, This Must Be the Place gave away 46,146 units of Narcan — a brand name for naloxone — through their national festival outreach. Emmett Beliveau, chief operating officer of C3 Presents, says working with This Must Be the Place was C3's first time implementing public-facing harm reduction strategies, in addition to the promoter's existing medical programs. Bringing the organization into C3's festivals was 'not in response to anything that has happened at one of our festivals,' he says, but rather because of the 'number of fatalities happening in our communities.' Some activists believe attendees are most responsive to receiving harm reduction education from peers instead of authority figures. And so, for the last three years, a nonprofit dedicated to combating accidental drug overdoses among young adults, Team Awareness Combating Overdose, has distributed fentanyl test strips and Narcan at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival . Former TACO CEO Kameran Mody says that music festivals are ideal locations for distribution and education because 'music and the use of drugs are synonymous with each other.' TACO distributes through what Mody describes as 'guerrilla-style marketing.' They enlist volunteers, train them on how to use naloxone, and ship Narcan and test strips to them to bring into the festival. They do not involve the festival organizers. Representatives for Coachella did not respond to The Associated Press' requests for comment. In 2023, a TACO volunteer administered Narcan to an unresponsive Coachella attendee exhibiting signs of an overdose. The organization says the attendee regained consciousness. 'That was one of our biggest successes,' Mody says. In 2019, at Bonnaroo, a 27-year-old man was found dead at his campsite — right after harm reduction activists had picketed the Tennessee festival because it didn't allow drug testing. The toxicology report found ecstasy and fentanyl in his system. At the time, under state law, test strips were criminalized and classified as drug paraphernalia. That's changed: In 2022, Tennessee decriminalized fentanyl test strips. By the end of 2023, 44 other states and D.C. had done the same. But in some states, drug paraphernalia laws are written in a way that isn't completely transparent — there are test strips that are not fentanyl-specific, Heller points out — and criminalization and social stigmas endure. Some have found workarounds. 'Even in the states where the legalities were a bit unclear, instead of just coming in and hoping things worked out, we would reach out to the health department, and say 'We run this project, how do feel about it?'' says Perry. 'We would end up with letters from the highest-ranking health official, either in the county or in the state, saying 'We approve of this.' That circumvented any roadblocks.' Some festivals, though, might be hesitant to use test strips because 'it's tough for them to admit that drugs are being used,' Mody says. Some festivals have even banned naloxone. While This Must Be The Place distributes fentanyl test strips at some Ohio events, C3 doesn't distribute test strips at its events and does not plan to. Beliveau doesn't believe fentanyl test strips are effective and expressed concern they could encourage drug use. Test strips, which can detect fentanyl in pills, powders or injectables, are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a low-cost means of helping prevent drug overdoses. At a three-day electronic music festival in Mexico City earlier this year, a booth provided free, anonymous drug testing. The initiative, known as 'Checa tu Sustancia' (Check Your Substance), was spearheaded by the Instituto RIA, a Mexico-based drug policy research and advocacy organization. When unexpected substances are detected, users received detailed information on what they are, their risks, potential interactions with other substances and dosage adjustments, empowering them to make informed choices. Perry says they are aware of smaller festivals in the United States conducting drug checking, but 'they do it in a very underground and whisper network way' to avoid criminalization. What Perry says his organization would like to see at music festivals in the future would be harm reduction areas — sections where attendees who have taken drugs can be monitored, not to 'get them into trouble' but to ensure safety. Heller says there are a number of groups working to destigmatize drugs, promote decriminalization, and promote drug checking. 'We already have drug checking happening in cities,' she says. 'It makes perfect sense to expand the settings where you would offer that to include music festivals. It's the same rationale. ... The issue is this idea of liability. You'd have to create a law, essentially, that would protect the festival from liability.'
Associated Press
10-06-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
Music festivals have become more open to harm reduction initiatives. How far will it go?
NEW YORK (AP) — The sounds of muffled percussion and audience cheers reverberate throughout the grounds. Brand activations, makeshift bars and restaurant pop-ups control traffic as a sea of bodies move from set to set. Sandwiched between is a row of nonprofits across familiar causes: hunger, housing and voter registration. It's a common music festival scene, until closer inspection. There is a new table, This Must Be the Place. The Ohio-based nonprofit offers attendees free opioid overdose reversal treatment and training on how to use it, an education acquired in under two minutes. Just a few years ago, their inclusion might've been unthinkable amid murky regulations and a lack of public awareness surrounding harm reduction. Advocates say drugs are commonly consumed at music festivals, making them ideal locations for harm reduction activities. While more music festivals are allowing such activities, activists are pushing for expanded efforts as some festivals remain cautious. Harm reduction varies at festivals across the country Founded by William Perry and Ingela Travers-Hayward in 2022, This Must Be The Place has since given away an estimated $4.5 million in naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal medication, at festivals and smaller community events. In the very beginning, without a 'proof of concept,' as Perry describes it, they had trouble partnering with festivals. Eventually, a few festivals in the Midwest agreed to let them table, which 'got us in the door with Bonnaroo in 2022,' says Perry, referring to the major U.S. festival operated by C3 Presents, one of the largest concert promoters on the planet. Now they have a presence at 35 major U.S. festivals — including Lollapalooza, Governors Ball and Besame Mucho — where they collaborate directly with C3 and their security personnel. The organization's growth overlaps with advancing federal regulations. According to Daliah Heller, vice president of overdose prevention initiatives at the global public health nonprofit Vital Strategies, naloxone distribution used to be determined by state regulations until 2023, when the Food and Drug Administration approved the first over-the-counter nasal spray. 'We no longer need the prescription laws to be amended to allow for the distribution of naloxone,' she says. 'Now it's like buying aspirin — it's over the counter.' Last year, This Must Be the Place gave away 46,146 units of Narcan — a brand name for naloxone — through their national festival outreach. Emmett Beliveau, chief operating officer of C3 Presents, says working with This Must Be the Place was C3's first time implementing public-facing harm reduction strategies, in addition to the promoter's existing medical programs. Bringing the organization into C3's festivals was 'not in response to anything that has happened at one of our festivals,' he says, but rather because of the 'number of fatalities happening in our communities.' Some attendees have taken matters into their own hands Some activists believe attendees are most responsive to receiving harm reduction education from peers instead of authority figures. And so, for the last three years, a nonprofit dedicated to combating accidental drug overdoses among young adults, Team Awareness Combating Overdose, has distributed fentanyl test strips and Narcan at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Former TACO CEO Kameran Mody says that music festivals are ideal locations for distribution and education because 'music and the use of drugs are synonymous with each other.' TACO distributes through what Mody describes as 'guerrilla-style marketing.' They enlist volunteers, train them on how to use naloxone, and ship Narcan and test strips to them to bring into the festival. They do not involve the festival organizers. Representatives for Coachella did not respond to The Associated Press' requests for comment. In 2023, a TACO volunteer administered Narcan to an unresponsive Coachella attendee exhibiting signs of an overdose. The organization says the attendee regained consciousness. 'That was one of our biggest successes,' Mody says. Local laws and the risk of criminalization hinder initiatives In 2019, at Bonnaroo, a 27-year-old man was found dead at his campsite — right after harm reduction activists had picketed the Tennessee festival because it didn't allow drug testing. The toxicology report found ecstasy and fentanyl in his system. At the time, under state law, test strips were criminalized and classified as drug paraphernalia. That's changed: In 2022, Tennessee decriminalized fentanyl test strips. By the end of 2023, 44 other states and D.C. had done the same. But in some states, drug paraphernalia laws are written in a way that isn't completely transparent — there are test strips that are not fentanyl-specific, Heller points out — and criminalization and social stigmas endure. Some have found workarounds. 'Even in the states where the legalities were a bit unclear, instead of just coming in and hoping things worked out, we would reach out to the health department, and say 'We run this project, how do feel about it?'' says Perry. 'We would end up with letters from the highest-ranking health official, either in the county or in the state, saying 'We approve of this.' That circumvented any roadblocks.' Some festivals, though, might be hesitant to use test strips because 'it's tough for them to admit that drugs are being used,' Mody says. Some festivals have even banned naloxone. While This Must Be The Place distributes fentanyl test strips at some Ohio events, C3 doesn't distribute test strips at its events and does not plan to. Beliveau doesn't believe fentanyl test strips are effective and expressed concern they could encourage drug use. Test strips, which can detect fentanyl in pills, powders or injectables, are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a low-cost means of helping prevent drug overdoses. Harm reduction shows promise outside the US At a three-day electronic music festival in Mexico City earlier this year, a booth provided free, anonymous drug testing. The initiative, known as 'Checa tu Sustancia' (Check Your Substance), was spearheaded by the Instituto RIA, a Mexico-based drug policy research and advocacy organization. When unexpected substances are detected, users received detailed information on what they are, their risks, potential interactions with other substances and dosage adjustments, empowering them to make informed choices. Perry says they are aware of smaller festivals in the United States conducting drug checking, but 'they do it in a very underground and whisper network way' to avoid criminalization. What Perry says his organization would like to see at music festivals in the future would be harm reduction areas — sections where attendees who have taken drugs can be monitored, not to 'get them into trouble' but to ensure safety. Heller says there are a number of groups working to destigmatize drugs, promote decriminalization, and promote drug checking. 'We already have drug checking happening in cities,' she says. 'It makes perfect sense to expand the settings where you would offer that to include music festivals. It's the same rationale. ... The issue is this idea of liability. You'd have to create a law, essentially, that would protect the festival from liability.'
The Independent
10-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Music festivals have become more open to harm reduction initiatives. How far will it go?
The sounds of muffled percussion and audience cheers reverberate throughout the grounds. Brand activations, makeshift bars and restaurant pop-ups control traffic as a sea of bodies move from set to set. Sandwiched between is a row of nonprofits across familiar causes: hunger, housing and voter registration. It's a common music festival scene, until closer inspection. There is a new table, This Must Be the Place. The Ohio-based nonprofit offers attendees free opioid overdose reversal treatment and training on how to use it, an education acquired in under two minutes. Just a few years ago, their inclusion might've been unthinkable amid murky regulations and a lack of public awareness surrounding harm reduction. Advocates say drugs are commonly consumed at music festivals, making them ideal locations for harm reduction activities. While more music festivals are allowing such activities, activists are pushing for expanded efforts as some festivals remain cautious. Harm reduction varies at festivals across the country Founded by William Perry and Ingela Travers-Hayward in 2022, This Must Be The Place has since given away an estimated $4.5 million in naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal medication, at festivals and smaller community events. In the very beginning, without a 'proof of concept,' as Perry describes it, they had trouble partnering with festivals. Eventually, a few festivals in the Midwest agreed to let them table, which 'got us in the door with Bonnaroo in 2022,' says Perry, referring to the major U.S. festival operated by C3 Presents, one of the largest concert promoters on the planet. Now they have a presence at 35 major U.S. festivals — including Lollapalooza, Governors Ball and Besame Mucho — where they collaborate directly with C3 and their security personnel. The organization's growth overlaps with advancing federal regulations. According to Daliah Heller, vice president of overdose prevention initiatives at the global public health nonprofit Vital Strategies, naloxone distribution used to be determined by state regulations until 2023, when the Food and Drug Administration approved the first over-the-counter nasal spray. 'We no longer need the prescription laws to be amended to allow for the distribution of naloxone,' she says. 'Now it's like buying aspirin — it's over the counter.' Last year, This Must Be the Place gave away 46,146 units of Narcan — a brand name for naloxone — through their national festival outreach. Emmett Beliveau, chief operating officer of C3 Presents, says working with This Must Be the Place was C3's first time implementing public-facing harm reduction strategies, in addition to the promoter's existing medical programs. Bringing the organization into C3's festivals was 'not in response to anything that has happened at one of our festivals,' he says, but rather because of the 'number of fatalities happening in our communities.' Some attendees have taken matters into their own hands Some activists believe attendees are most responsive to receiving harm reduction education from peers instead of authority figures. And so, for the last three years, a nonprofit dedicated to combating accidental drug overdoses among young adults, Team Awareness Combating Overdose, has distributed fentanyl test strips and Narcan at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Former TACO CEO Kameran Mody says that music festivals are ideal locations for distribution and education because 'music and the use of drugs are synonymous with each other.' TACO distributes through what Mody describes as 'guerrilla-style marketing.' They enlist volunteers, train them on how to use naloxone, and ship Narcan and test strips to them to bring into the festival. They do not involve the festival organizers. Representatives for Coachella did not respond to The Associated Press' requests for comment. In 2023, a TACO volunteer administered Narcan to an unresponsive Coachella attendee exhibiting signs of an overdose. The organization says the attendee regained consciousness. 'That was one of our biggest successes,' Mody says. Local laws and the risk of criminalization hinder initiatives In 2019, at Bonnaroo, a 27-year-old man was found dead at his campsite — right after harm reduction activists had picketed the Tennessee festival because it didn't allow drug testing. The toxicology report found ecstasy and fentanyl in his system. At the time, under state law, test strips were criminalized and classified as drug paraphernalia. That's changed: In 2022, Tennessee decriminalized fentanyl test strips. By the end of 2023, 44 other states and D.C. had done the same. But in some states, drug paraphernalia laws are written in a way that isn't completely transparent — there are test strips that are not fentanyl-specific, Heller points out — and criminalization and social stigmas endure. Some have found workarounds. 'Even in the states where the legalities were a bit unclear, instead of just coming in and hoping things worked out, we would reach out to the health department, and say 'We run this project, how do feel about it?'' says Perry. 'We would end up with letters from the highest-ranking health official, either in the county or in the state, saying 'We approve of this.' That circumvented any roadblocks.' Some festivals, though, might be hesitant to use test strips because 'it's tough for them to admit that drugs are being used,' Mody says. Some festivals have even banned naloxone. While This Must Be The Place distributes fentanyl test strips at some Ohio events, C3 doesn't distribute test strips at its events and does not plan to. Beliveau doesn't believe fentanyl test strips are effective and expressed concern they could encourage drug use. Test strips, which can detect fentanyl in pills, powders or injectables, are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a low-cost means of helping prevent drug overdoses. Harm reduction shows promise outside the US At a three-day electronic music festival in Mexico City earlier this year, a booth provided free, anonymous drug testing. The initiative, known as 'Checa tu Sustancia' (Check Your Substance), was spearheaded by the Instituto RIA, a Mexico-based drug policy research and advocacy organization. When unexpected substances are detected, users received detailed information on what they are, their risks, potential interactions with other substances and dosage adjustments, empowering them to make informed choices. Perry says they are aware of smaller festivals in the United States conducting drug checking, but 'they do it in a very underground and whisper network way' to avoid criminalization. What Perry says his organization would like to see at music festivals in the future would be harm reduction areas — sections where attendees who have taken drugs can be monitored, not to 'get them into trouble' but to ensure safety. Heller says there are a number of groups working to destigmatize drugs, promote decriminalization, and promote drug checking. 'We already have drug checking happening in cities,' she says. 'It makes perfect sense to expand the settings where you would offer that to include music festivals. It's the same rationale. ... The issue is this idea of liability. You'd have to create a law, essentially, that would protect the festival from liability.'
Irish Daily Mirror
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Saoirse Ronan surprises fans with chilling new role
Saoirse Ronan has taken on a rather unanticipated role, much to the delight of her fans. The legendary group Talking Heads has pulled off quite the celebration for the 50th anniversary of their track Psycho Killer, finally dropping a music video for this timeless classic. Directed by Mike Mills, the fresh visuals feature the talented Irish actress Ronan. Known for her critically acclaimed performance in Brooklyn, Ronan portrays an ordinary worker battling the day-to-day tedium that pushes her to the brink of madness in the video. Throughout the clip, as Ronan performs everyday chores like tooth-brushing and commuting, her demeanour escalates from mundane to increasingly deranged, mirroring the essence of the tune's lyrics. Explaining the inspiration behind the video to Vulture, Mills said, "The last thing you want to do is pin down or reduce what the song is about. The song is so much more than being psychotic or killing," reports the Irish Star. He elaborated on his daunting initial feelings, "At first, I was totally daunted. I was like, 'How the f*** do you make a video for Psycho Killer for my art heroes?' It's impossible. I can't think of that idea, it's too hard. Then, walking down my hallway, the idea came to me in a flash. Saoirse isn't at all a psycho killer or anything. It's the environment and that life and false normality." Mills revealed how easy it was to get the talented 31-year-old Dubliner involved in the music video, as Ronan, a staunch Talking Heads fan, even tied the knot to the sound of their hit This Must Be The Place. The brilliant actress, who has been working on-screen since she was 12, married Scottish actor Jack Lowden last summer, in an intimate ceremony. Talking Heads, with band members now in their 70s, released a statement regarding the fresh take on their song: "This video makes the song better. We LOVE what this video is NOT – it's not literal, creepy, bloody, physically violent or obvious." The video has already amassed over a million views in just 24 hours, with Ronan's fans stating that the actress' new role was '"worth the wait." The Oscar nominee has not graced the big screen since 2024, when she starred in Steve McQueen's moving drama, The Blitz.
South Wales Guardian
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- South Wales Guardian
Saoirse Ronan stars in new Talking Heads music video
The American rock band is best known for their songs This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody), Road To Nowhere and Burning Down The House. The group released the full music video on Thursday evening to mark the 50th anniversary of the band's first show together in 1975. A post shared by Talking Heads (@talkingheadsofficial) American-born Irish actress Ronan, who is best known for starring in Ladybird (2017), Little Women (2019) and The Outrun (2024), can be seen slowly losing her mind and acting out as she moves through day-to-day life. Psycho Killer was first released on the band's debut album Talking Heads: 77. A post shared by Chris Frántz (@frantzchris) Formed in 1975, the group is made up of frontman David Byrne, bassist Tina Weymouth, drummer Chris Frantz, and keyboardist and guitarist Jerry Harrison. The group later announced their split in 1991. They won the Grammy's Lifetime Achievement award in 2021 for their 'creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording' and are also behind the top 10 UK albums True Stories and Naked.
