Over 80 substances were tested over the duration of the festival with some found to have been mis-sold.

Cambridgeshire’s Secret Garden Party has become the first festival in the UK to offer people the chance to have illegal drugs tested before they take them, the Guardian reports.

The testing facility was the result of a collaboration between local police, local councils and drugs safety charity The Loop, and was used by over 200 people over the course of the event last weekend (July 21-24).

The Loop has run similar forensic tests at events in the UK for several years to help provide general safety alerts, but only on drugs seized by police, provided by paramedics or dropped in amnesty bins.

Over 80 substances were tested over the first day and a half of the festival. As well as high-strength ecstasy pills, tests discovered anti-malaria tablets sold as ketamine and ammonium sulphate sold as MDMA.

“For the first time we’ve been able to offer the testing service to individual users as part of a tailored advice and information package provided by a team of experienced drugs workers,” The Loop co-founder Fiona Measham said. “This can help people make informed choices, raising awareness of particularly dangerous substances in circulation and reducing the chance of drug-related problems occurring.”

Transform Drug Policy Foundation’s Steve Rolles said that around a quarter of those who had their drugs tested handed them in for disposal when they found out that they had been sold potentially harmful substances.

Rolles is in talks to bring the testing service to two other festivals next year, but that the project’s expansion depends on the agreement of local police and councils.

“Until the laws are reformed, testing and encouraging safer drug use is the least we can do. We hope this groundbreaking service becomes the norm for all such events,” he said. “It is now up to others to follow, to protect the health and safety of their customers. In truth it would be negligent for them not to.”