ORGANISERS behind the popular BoomTown festival have released a candid documentary looking at the impact of drug-taking.

The 15-minute video, which openly addresses the issues of the illegal substances at music festivals, follows a major push by BoomTown to reduce drug-taking after a number of deaths at the Winchester festival in recent years.

Among those featured in the documentary is the family of 18-year-old Ellie Rowe, who died after taking a cocktail of alcohol and ketamine at the 2013 festival.

Ellie’s mum, Wendy Teasdill, said: “We don’t know what we don’t know; Ellie didn’t know how strong that ketamine was, she didn’t know that the ketamine and the alcohol was a possible lethal combination.”

Ms Teasdill, as well as Ellie’s sisters Iona and Belinda Rowe, and Ellie’s godmother Saskia Kent praised the efforts taken by organisers tackle the drugs issue, including the work of on-site drug testing facility The Loop.

In addition to enforcing legislation, last year saw a major drug awareness and safety drive, with over 1,132 different drug samples tested by The Loop, more than at any other festival.

Just over £91,000 worth of drugs were seized by police at the event, as well as more than £77,000 recovered from the amnesty bins used by revellers outside of the event, as well as security staff after interventions on site.

Seventeen people were dealt with for drug possession and 33 people dealt with for possession with intent to supply drugs.

Lak Mitchell, BoomTown co-founder and creative director, said: “It feels like a huge evolution in the festival world, all of a sudden things are stepping up and we’re progressing.

“We’d like to use the festival platform to introduce these new harm reduction services and ways of bringing public safety and education towards drugs to the forefront.”

Among those speaking in the documentary are experts Professor Fiona Measham, director of harm reduction at The Loop; Katy Mcloud, director of Chill Welfare; and Ed Morrow from the Royal Society of Public Health England.