Half of the pingers tested at Lost Village festival didn’t contain any MDMA at all

Half of the pills tested at Lost Village festival that were sold as MDMA contained no traces of the substance whatsoever.

According to The Loop, a drugs testing service, festival goers were miss-sold pills containing chemicals like 4-CMC, 3-MMC or eutylone.

These substances are known as cathinones and can cause anxiety, paranoia, psychosis as well as provoking the urge to redose. Some of the pills tested were found to contain only caffeine.

While Lost Village is just one festival, The Loop’s findings reflect a growing trend of MDMA being missold across the UK.

Director of The Loop Fiona Measham said that dealers are struggling to keep up with the spike in demand for MDMA, since clubs and events started up again after lockdown came to an end.

“It’s a combination of factors including the disruptions to supply chains due to Covid, Brexit, road haulage shortages and the sudden huge demand in the UK after 18 months of very limited partying and party drug use,” Measham told Vice.

It’s thought that this shortage of MDMA has led to dealers cutting pills with other substances or swapping it out altogether.

Measham believes that fake MDMA is distrusted and disliked by drug users. “One of our unexpected observations at Lost Village last weekend was that some festival-goers ended up taking less drugs because their initial dose(s) had been negative experiences. People were taking an initial dose then not redosing.

“So there were fewer medical and welfare problems related to people having taken large amounts of MDMA, as usually happens at festivals. Instead there were a smaller number of medical and welfare incidents where people had taken large amounts of cathinones and were experiencing anxiety, insomnia and in a few cases, psychosis,” Measham said.

Related articles recommended by this writer:

• Warning issued over blue Tesla pills amid drugs deaths in Bristol and London

• Thousands of tents abandoned at festivals around the UK after bank holiday weekend

• These 21 TikToks prove British festival goers are completely feral and will never grow up