The Bunk Police break rules to continue the fight to provide drug testing kits for allInfinite Crowd

The Bunk Police break rules to continue the fight to provide drug testing kits for all

There’s no denying that the young, music driven generation of today are not unlike their predecessors – unafraid to boost a day out partying with plentiful drug use. While many may be scheming ways to best sneak in drugs of all assortments to their choice festival or show, one individual is working hard to instead smuggle in drug testing kits for all. Working under the alias Adam Auctor, one Denver-based man is dodging the harsh restrictions to provide educational and potentially life-saving information for the many that choose to consume drugs. As the frontman of his own organization The Bunk Police, Auctor’s primary goal is to break the taboo and provide drug testing resources to partygoers.

One of Auctor’s more recent crusades landed him at The Hudson Project, a summer festival that concluded its inaugural edition in New York this July. “We put [test kits] into black duffel bags and throw them over the fence in the middle of the night,” he explains. “We do whatever it takes.” After making his services available to a group of eight guys planning to soon head into the festival, they all soon are shocked to discover that out of the four various illegal substances in their possession including acid, ketamine, cocaine, and sass (MDA), only one tests to be pure and real. The rest are made up of amphetamines, baking soda, and even mud.

“The demand is just absolutely insane, especially once people started to realize what’s actually out there.” Though as popular as Auctor’s safety-first ideology may be, it comes as no a surprise that none of the festival promoters he has reached out to for permission to sell and distribute his test kits have provided him with a response. As we explored in a recent Dancing Astronaut editorial and as Sean Dunagan, former intelligence analyst for the Drug Enforcement Agency supports, the outdated RAVE Act is largely to blame for the discrepancy between health and policy. “If I were promoting a festival, I would rather have The Bunk Police there than have three people dead from overdoses,” he said. Despite Auctor’s estimations that “more than 250 research chemicals have entered into the adulterated substance market in the last three years” and that less than 4% of a seized drug sample marketed as Molly even contained pure MDMA, promoters still remain fearful to support The Bunk Police and other similar organizations.

The journey is complex, Auctor continues to share. He fears that as his organization grows, drug dealers could target and attempt to physically harm his volunteers for taking business and money away from them. On the other hand, though testing kits are legal under federal narcotic laws, The Bunk Police must remain aware of paraphernalia laws that vary from state to state that could get him and his fellow crusaders into serious legal troubles. “It’s definitely a gray [legal] area, but [on-site testing] needs to be done,” he continues. “I have people telling me that I’ve saved hundreds of lives. Just one would be enough.”

Via: Al Jazeera

Related:

Al Jazeera America goes inside drug-testing world of the Bunk Police

Editorial: Revisiting the RAVE Act and today’s need for drug safety reform

 

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