Councillors have called on Glastonbury organisers to combat drug use at the festival (PIcture: Getty)
Glastonbury Festival may be forced to reduce its capacity in the future, or pay for extra security, in order to combat illegal drug use.
Cllr Simon Carswell of Mendip Council Somerset has argued the case that more drugs would be seized if security numbers at the festival were beefed up, or fewer tickets were sold in a combat against use.
In addition, police and councillors in Somerset are calling on the organisers to release information pertaining to drug seizures and improve its drug security.
At present, the famous music festival, which began in 1970 and now hosts up to 200,000 people, does not release its full drug seizure figures to the public.
According to reports in the Telegraph, however, capacity may be reduced after these issues were raised during a licensing board meeting of Mendip District Council.
Police currently arrest drug users at the festival site and record their own figures within official police statistics, which are released to the public.
Glastonbury Festival now attracts 200,000 visitors, but that might be about to change (Picture: OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty)
However, drugs dropped into amnesty bins – where festival goers can place drugs without consequences – or retrieved by security staff are not recorded.
This is because drugs seized by Glastonbury staff, either from the bins or from drug users at the festival, do not form part of police investigations.
Kendrick Lamar headlined the Saturday slot on the Pyramid Stage in 2022 (Picture: Joseph Okpako/WireImage)
Police officer Pete Collins said: ‘Believe it or not, but the seizure of drugs is not something that’s disclosed to us – the data is owned by the Glastonbury Festival.’
Meanwhile, Cllr Francis Hayden argued for front-of-house testing, where people can have their drugs safety checked before entering the festival.
However, Andy Battle, head of security for Glastonbury, confirmed that there would be no front-of-house testing in the near future.
‘We have a back-of-house testing facility, so we are able to test drugs on site. The drugs that are seized, surrendered or found abandoned, we can test.’
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The prospective changes to the numbers in security staff would not affect next year’s festival, but could affect the festival from 2024 onwards.
Glastonbury will be back next year between June 21 and June 25, and tickets are set to cost £340, which is a significant increase on last year’s prices.
Tickets go on sale on Sunday, November 6.
Metro.co.uk contacted Glastonbury Festival for comment.
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The plans would not affect the 2023 festival.
