A few visits to the grounds was the extent of the interaction Merritt RCMP had with the Bass Coast music festival over the weekend.
While there were no drug overdoses, police had to deal with a couple of incidents on Saturday where people were acting hysterically after having used drugs at the festival.
RCMP Const. Tracy Dunsmore said that police were called to assist event security who were dealing with a man who said he was going to kill himself.
The man was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol when apprehended by police, but said he had taken acid the night before.
She said the man was admitted to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops under the mental health act.
Later that night, police responded to the site where medical and security staff said a woman had been acting erratically due to drug consumption. Dunsmore said she was taken to the Nicola Valley Hospital to calm down and was later released.
Dunsmore told the Herald that the only concern police had prior to this year’s festival was the possibility of drug overdoses given the fact they responded to about two or three at the site last year.
Police also had three noise complaints from residents who heard the music overnight, and responded to a fight at the site in which neither of the two people involved wished to press charges.
She said one of the festival’s security guards was hit by a trailer as vehicles were exiting the grounds, but was taken to hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.
“We don’t have a lot of problems with it,” Dunsmore said of the festival.
