• Figure out how long you expect to stay at the festival: a few hours? all night? two full days?
• Decide whether you plan to take drugs or not.
• Choose what you want to take and the amount you’ll need to get high for the length of time you want.
• Get your drugs tested by the community organization providing support, if available.
• If you’re taking HIV meds or medication for other infections, find out whether the drugs you want to take interact with your medications.
• Decide how you plan to get to the festival and get home.

 

With your friends

• Designate a driver for the ride there and the ride home if you’re going by car.
• Find out what the other members of your group plan to take.
• Tell at least one member of your group what you plan to take.
• Create a group chat with your friends so you can find each other once you’re there, tell the others if you’re not feeing well, and so on.

 

Useful items to have with you:

• sunscreen
• hat
• sunglasses
• earplugs
• water bottle
• electrolyte packets
• food that’s easy to snack on and easy to digest
• change of clothes
• phone charger
• drug use kit
• condoms, dental dams, lube

• Drink water
• Eat
• Rest and chill

This list might seem long—it is! But don’t forget that the better you’re prepared for your party, the more easily you’ll be able to have fun and lose yourself in the music when you’re there.

Festivals and raves are events that last all night or all day, sometimes several in a row. Festival-goers dance to electronic music sets played by DJs. This kind of dancing uses up a lot of energy—energy that, for many, is stimulated by recreational drugs.

It’s important to know that you’re forbidden from bringing drugs to festivals and using them there. You have to think about how to hide your drugs well, because at many festivals, you’ll be searched at the entrance.

You also have to remember that the rules can vary from one festival to the next. For example, some festivals let you bring food, while others don’t. It’s a good idea to know the rules of the festivals you plan to attend.

Then, you just need to figure out what you want to do, what you want to take and what you need to have in your bag.

Phone

When you go to a festival with friends, think about how to stay in contact with them. Your phone is a good tool—create a group chat to exchange information such as your meeting spot, the substances you’ve taken, if someone decides to leave, and so on. You can also share your location with your friends to help find each other more easily.

Wireless charger

If you plan to dance all night or all day and you want your phone to keep working, you’ll need to charge it fully. Depending on your phone’s battery life, it might be a good idea to bring a charger. Preferably a wireless charger since there aren’t always outlets available.

Car keys

It’s important to plan how you’re going to get home before you start taking drugs at a festival.

You’ve got a few options:

• carpooling (designated driver)
• leaving with a friend or someone else you know who isn’t attending the festival
• public transit (bus, metro, train)
• inter-regional bus (Voyageur, Orléans Express)
• taxi or Uber
• ferry

Cash and a bank card

Depending on the festival and where it’s held, you may not have access to a bank machine or Interac payment service. If that’s the case, it’s good to have cash on hand so you can buy something to eat or drink or get a souvenir.

Also bring your bank card. It can be useful for getting home by taxi or for your post-rave brunch.

Health card

While you’re bringing your bank cards, make sure you also bring your health card. It serves as an ID card and since you never know what might happen, it’s good to have it handy.

Medication

If you’re living with HIV or another chronic condition that requires you to take meds every day, bring the doses you’ll need to take during the festival. Set a reminder on your phone at the appropriate times so you don’t forget them. You can also keep a list of all the medications you’re taking in your bag. It can be useful if anything unexpected happens and you need to deal with paramedics.

Sun protection

Sunscreen is crucial for outdoor festivals, where you may spend many hours exposed to the sun. There are other ways to protect yourself from the sun, too, like wearing a hat or scarf, spending time in the shade, wearing light colours and carrying an umbrella or parasol.

Sunglasses

At a festival, you might spend many hours exposed to the sun, so it’s important to protect yourself so you can fully enjoy the party. On top of protecting your eyes from the sun’s rays, sunglasses are useful when you’re taking drugs and the visual stimulus gets too intense. For this reason, they can also be good to bring to indoor festivals.

Water bottle

It’s important to stay hydrated during a festival, especially if you’re exposed to the sun. As well, if you’re taking drugs, you need to hydrate so you don’t get heatstroke, have a bad trip or feel nauseated. You can bring a water bottle that you can fill on site, since often water stations are provided. If not, bring enough money to buy some on site.

Electrolytes

As another way to avoid heatstroke, bad trips and nausea, you can bring packets of electrolytes (minerals) with you. They’re very useful and easy to fit into your bag. Among other things, electrolytes help keep your body hydrated. During a festival, being in the sun, sweating, drinking alcohol and using drugs all make you lose electrolytes, which is why it’s important to stay hydrated. All you need to do is dump a packet of electrolytes in your water bottle and give it a good shake. Then enjoy the benefits! Just remember, never ingest them in powder form directly.

Earplugs

Often at a festival, the volume of the music can hit levels that are dangerous for your auditory health. Especially if you’re dancing for hours, consider the risk that you might develop tinnitus or progressive hearing loss.

There are many types of earplugs:

Foam plugs

These popular single-use plugs are easy to find for cheap at drugstores. Foam earplugs give you about thirty decibels of sound reduction, but they don’t filter sound, which can make it harder to talk with people.

Silicone plugs

Silicone earplugs are reusable and pre-modeled to fit into the entrance to your ear (not in the ear canal). They’re more comfortable, but they reduce sound by only 15 to 35 decibels.

Acoustic filter plugs

These earplugs filter sound, letting important sounds reach your ear while dulling sounds that are irritating, too low or too high. They’re often made of silicone for greater comfort. You get the benefits of silicone earplugs while also enjoying the acoustic filtering, which reduces some kinds of sound while letting you converse with people. They’re more expensive, but they’re reusable. They’re recommended for musicians and for people who go to festivals and shows.

Custom plugs

These plugs are made by a health professional such as an audioprosthesist using an impression of your ear canal. They’re made of silicone, acrylate or crylit dure, and they’re the most comfortable to wear because they’re made to measure for you. They’re expensive, but they can be used for many years. They provide the best performance for extreme sound levels.