DRUG users should be allowed to test how safe their class As are at festivals this summer, leading doctors said today.

Special drug testing zones should be set up at all major music festivals and at big night clubs, the Royal Society for Public Health said.

3 All festivals should offer safety testing areas for drug users to test their class As, the Royal Society of Public Health said Credit: Getty Images

Allowing festivalgoers to check what their drugs are actually made up of and their strength, will help "minimise the risk of serious harm".

The Society believes safety testing facilities should become a standard feature in busy city centres, a move backed by 90 per cent clubbers.

It comes after a rise in deaths related to recreational drug use, has been noted in recent years.

Ecstasy deaths in England and Wales are up almost six-fold from 10 in 2010 to 57 in 2015.

The rise is thought to have been largely caused by a corresponding increase in the average strength of ecstasy pills.

Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the RSPH, said a "pragmatic approach" is needed to reduce harm to people.

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"The rise in drug-related deaths at music festivals and night clubs is a growing problem for policy makers, health authorities and events companies alike," she said.

"While the use of stimulant drugs like ecstasy can never be safe, we accept that a certain level of use remains inevitable."

However, she stressed the RSPH does still support efforts to crackdown on drug use at festivals and nightclubs.

Trial runs carried out last summer the Secret Garden Party and Kendall Calling festivals, with the support of local police and public health bods, proved successful.

3 Pilot trials at two festivals last summer showed drug users were less likely to take their class As when they realised they were stronger than they thought Credit: Getty Images

Initial results, to be published later this month in RSPH's Public Health journal, suggest one in five users chose to throw their drugs away once they realised the true content.

This immediately reduced the amount of potentially harmful substances circulating on site.

Now, the service provider The Loop plans to roll out the facilities to around eight festivals across the UK this summer.

While the use of stimulant drugs like ecstasy can never be safe, we accept that a certain level of use remains inevitable Shirley Cramer

Ms Cramer added: "The pilots carried out by The Loop last summer suggest providing drug safety testing facilities to festivalgoers and night clubbers is a promising part of the equation in preventing these deaths.

"Both by exposing and reducing the circulation of super strength or adulterated pills, and providing an opportunity to impart practical harm reduction advice to an audience who wouldn't normally engage with drug services.

"We urge events companies to make these facilities a standard part of the UK festival and clubbing landscape.

3 One in three festivalgoers said they definitely or probably wouldn't take their drugs if the composition wasn't what they expected Credit: Getty Images

"And we urge both local and national police and public health authorities to provide the support that will enable this."

Professor of criminology, Fiona Measham, from Durham University and director of The Loop said their findings mark a "significant step forward".

"The reassuring findings... have increased the appetite for its roll our this summer across the UK and further afield," she said.

"We believe that prioritising public health over criminal justice for drug users at a time of growing concern about drug-related deaths at festivals and nightclubs can help to reduce drug-related harm both on and off site."

After quizzing festivalgoers, the RSPH found one in three said they would definitely or probably not take their drugs if testing revealed the strength or composition was different to what they thought.

And 45 per cent said they would take fewer drugs or be more careful.

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