Ballarat police have arrested 22 people for alleged drug offences at Saturday's Spilt Milk music festival.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Police in uniform, under cover and detectives also seized a variety of substances believed to be ketamine and MDMA - largely thanks to sniffer dogs from the canine unit.
Ballarat Senior Sergeant Anthony Traynor said police were also gearing up for several other music festivals over the next few weeks including the Meredith Music Festival, which begins Friday - and the Beyond the Valley Festival from December 28.
"Remember that if you attend any music festival with the intention of dealing or consuming drugs, there is a high chance you'll be caught," he said.
"And if you have consumed drugs, you need to be mindful of the effects of those drugs on your health.
"You may have limited timely medical assistance, especially if you are in the middle of a large crowd."
Senior Sergeant Traynor said overall, Spilt Milk was conducted "fairly well" - and there were no major issues in central Ballarat after the event.
RELATED COVERAGE:
"They mainly celebrated in a safe manner," he said.
"That was thanks to good interaction between event organisers, the City of Ballarat, police and health services."
Police said health staff dealt with 150 clinical presentations on the day, most of them heat-related.
Saturday's temperature peaked at 27.8 degrees at 7.30pm and did not dip below 14 degrees overnight.
"A lot of the medical cases were the result of a poorly prepared crowd for the heat as well as the length of the event," Senior Sergeant Traynor said.
"We're talking things like sunburn and bandaids and so on."
Water fountains were available at the Victoria Park site.
"Our message at events like this is for people to be prepared for the conditions," Senior Sergeant Traynor said.
"Make plans around the length of the day, how you will manage yourself for a long event as well as how you're going to get there and how you're going to leave."
He said while Spilt Milk had capacity for 35,000 patrons, 32,500 tickets were sold and 30,000 turned up.
Meanwhile, police said the substances seized at the festival have been sent away for analysis.
Senior Sergeant Traynor said some of the 22 arrested would be dealt with via drug diversions, while others would be arrested on summons to appear at Ballarat Magistrates' Court at a later date.
Have you tried The Courier's app? It can be downloaded here.
Gabrielle Hodson
'All-rounder' journalist since 1993. I've worked in print, radio, TV & online as well as radio & TV producing and radio presenting. Working on Wadawurrung land. There are 7.9 billion stories out there. I'd love to hear yours...
'All-rounder' journalist since 1993. I've worked in print, radio, TV & online as well as radio & TV producing and radio presenting. Working on Wadawurrung land. There are 7.9 billion stories out there. I'd love to hear yours...
