Has the doof gone too far? An analysis of current drug culture in the Australian festival scene

Analysis by Amelie Mcintosh

In January 2025, renowned German DJ Marlon Hoffstadt paused his set at Wildlands Festival, amidst screaming fans present for his second set at the Adelaide festival. Although his comment initially was met with laughter as he told fans ‘from here, it looks f*cking rowdy down there’, this died down as he stated ‘It’s not a compliment (...) everyone, drink some water, look out for each other, chill a f*cking bit.’ His worried sentiment echoed that of a country-wide awareness of the rise of drug use at Australian festivals, and how experts and governmental figures are responding to this.
 
As post-pandemic rave culture continues to experience new peaks in attendance, the pent-up demand for live music can be seen across the country. Alongside the renown ‘bush doof’ culture of typical Summer festivals, Australians keenly embraced the ‘Brat Summer’ conceptualised by Charli XCX and pushed the movement months after summer had ended in the Northern Hemisphere, in particular due to her anticipated appearance at Laneway Festival. Alongside this, critics have discussed how Charli’s movement has engaged with drug use, and particularly the glamorisation of it. Lyrics such as ‘Shall we do a little key? Shall we have a little line?’ were discussed for her blatant depiction of the culture she is in and surrounded by as a musician; at festivals, at concerts, and as a high-profile celebrity. The release of a limited edition Brat vinyl filled with white powder caused discussion and outcry regarding her tongue-in-cheek advertising; public discussion was centred around partying as a cultural phenomenon, and the usage of cocaine, alongside other drugs was perceptibly cool again.
 
Yet within the Australian cultural appetite for hedonism and letting loose, data found that although cocaine use dropped, ketamine use was at an all-time high. Dr Rachel Sutherland, a Research Fellow at the University of New South Whales, has suggested this is due to the rapid proliferation of the drug in availability, being discreetly manufactured at a previously unfounded rate.  Researchers have noted this is likely due to availability of each substance. While there has been a global surge in cocaine supply and demand, ketamine was steadily increasing in availability. This is of national concern due to the adverse risks associated with consumption of the drug. Although it is never safe for consumption on its own, Sutherland, who is also the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre deputy director stresses that ‘the contents of illicit drugs are more unpredictable than ever before, and without information about the contents of illicit drugs, it leaves people who use these drugs ill-equipped to make decisions around their use.’
 
Australian culture is one that has always been considered to be a ‘lack of’ culture - where internationally, Australians look toward the dance culture of Europe, and the music scene of the United States as a model for a local rave and party scene. Looking internationally, England has also seen record uses of ketamine since the end of lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although this is not to state in entirety that drug use in Australia is something that has been copied in entirety from Europe, there is no recognising Australia’s dance and rave scene without a globalised perspective. The notion of days-long camping festivals were originally advertised as a European-style festival experience tracing back to 2015. Western Australia’s Disconnect Festival was initially advertised as ‘what a festival should be’, drawing association to famed European festivals such as Glastonbury. The birth of the rave scene in Melbourne - although it has become its own, unique cultural phenomenon - can be traced back to British influence from the 1980s. With the rave scenes in cities associated with the pulsing heart of the music culture, such as New York, London, Paris, Berlin, being propelled by the combination of the evolution of music and drug consumption, it comes with little surprise that this scene traced its way to Australian capital cities such as Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney.

Unlike the widely regarded ‘heroin chic’ of the 90s, drug use today is regarded and studied differently due to the prevalence and effect of internet culture on the perception of drug consumption. Studies conducted by Monash University in January 2024 found that drug use among attendees at music festivals was wildly disproportionate with the general population, with a survey of 2305 participants at 23 festivals reporting that almost half (48 per cent) had recently used drugs, with the most commonly detected drug being MDMA (65.6 per cent). In analysing MDMA-related content, the University of Otago found that it was overwhelmingly portrayed in a humorous light online, often leaning towards neutrality and in specific cases positivity regarding the effects of the drug. By portraying this in a joking, unserious manner online, the influence becomes that young people are increasingly perceiving drug use and consumption in similar fashion; through the fun that it can provide, rather than the damage that it creates.
 
Festival organisers have introduced different ways to control and reduce the associated harms of illicit drug use at music festivals, however this is doing little to control or stop the steadily rising abuse of stimulants. The safety of festival participants is of fundamental concern for festival organisers in how to arrange their events in a way that is safe and accessible for all attendees, drug users and non-users alike. Queensland’s multi-day Rabbits Eat Lettuce Festival was applauded in 2024 for introducing free and confidential pill testing after a 24-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman were found dead inside their tent in 2019. Advocates for pill-testing have stated that this practice is a significant step forward. Although it is never safe to take drugs, and there will always be the potential of dangerous side effects, there is always the reality that young people will experiment, and evidence-based decisions are the first step in taking precautionary measures.
 
So, where to go from here? Although it is unlikely that there will be a major decrease in the consumption of drugs in rave and festival culture anytime soon, the practice of speaking about the potential side-effects, as well as government investing in safe pill-testing, is a boosting step forward. In doing so, hopefully there will be less callouts such as those such as Hoffstadt's, and the thriving dance culture will continue to be the cultural landmarks of entertainment as they are today.