Drug screenings may be implemented at 2019 Burning Man
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/artic...m-14016146.php
The Bureau of Land Management also denied the organization the ability to grow to 100,000 attendees
By Drew Costley, SFGATE Updated 2:16 pm PDT, Wednesday, June 19, 2019
FILE - In this Sept. 2, 2006 file photo, "The Man," a stick figured symbol of the Burning Man art festival, is silhouetted against a morning sunrise in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is recommending attendance be capped at existing levels for the next 10 years at the annual Burning Man counter-culture festival in the desert 100 miles north of Reno. Burning Man organizers had proposed raising the current 80,000 limit as high as 100,000 in coming years.
People attending Burning Man this year might need to reconsider that acid trip on the Playa, due to a policy that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is thinking of implementing at this year's festival.
The BLM might conduct drug screenings at the entrances to this year's festival at Black Rock Desert, according to a report from the Reno Gazette-Journal.
Rudy Evenson, a spokesperson for BLM, told the Gazette-Journal that the federal agency could hire a private security firm to conduct drug screenings at this year's festival, or may wait until 2020 to implement the policy.
The BLM released a two-volume environmental impact statement (part 1 is here and part 2 is here) on Burning Man on Friday, June 14 that stated the agency will contract "third-party, private security to screen vehicles and participants, vendors and contractors, and staff and volunteers entering the event" that "will report ... banned or illegal contraband or significant concerns directly to law enforcement as violations are observed so that law enforcement can respond."
In an email to SFGate, the Burning Man group said it is preparing a full statement on the BLM environmental impact statement that they will publish on the Burning Man Journal in "the next day or so."
On Wednesday afternoon, the BLM sent a statement to SFGate regarding the reports of potential drug screening at Burning Man. "Our law enforcement personnel are focused on life, health and safety issues for attendees and staff which can be complex for an event this size at a unique location like the Black Rock Playa," wrote a BLM spokesperson.
"Screening process and procedures are just one facet of a multi-jurisdictional law enforcement approach to ensure the safety and security of the event. These procedures will be carried out in a manner similar to previous Burning Man events. At this time, BLM has no new announcements on changes to law enforcement and security policy or procedures related to Burning Man 2019."
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