Outside a set of festival toilets 27-year-old Remy Ranasinghe says she was chatting with a fellow partygoer carrying a walking stick when she asked a simple question.<\/p>\n
“Why do you have a walking stick?” she says she asked the man.<\/p>\n
“It matches my hat,” she says she was told.<\/p>\n
“I can whack my friends on the bum with it, and it helps me when I’m gacked.”<\/p>\n
It’s an emerging trend which Remy and other young festival-goers say they’re seeing at events around Australia this year.<\/p>\n
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Remy has been attending music festivals and raves for a decade. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
And with the use of one particular illegal drug reaching new records, they are drawing a link.<\/p>\n
“I’ve noticed this surge of young men using walking sticks at festivals,” Remy told triple j hack.<\/p>\n
“It’s an actual walking aid that they have \u2026 I saw a couple of walking frames too.<\/p>\n
“They’re using a mobility aid to help with the ketamine legs.<\/p>\n
“Because it affects the way that you feel your legs and walk, so that’s why people use it.”<\/p>\n
Loading…’On the pony powder’<\/p>\n
One of the non-disabled people using a walking stick at music festivals is 27-year-old Jy.<\/p>\n
“When you’re at big festivals like Pitch, Strawberry [Fields], Beyond the Valley, you’re doing 30-40,000 steps a day,” he told hack.<\/p>\n
“So that’s a really good reason to have them \u2014 it gives your legs a decent break.<\/p>\n
“You can decorate them with how you like, too.”<\/p>\n
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Jy doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with using a walking stick for support when he takes too much ketamine. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Jy admitted there is also another reason behind his walking stick use.<\/p>\n
“When you are on the pony powder your legs can get a little bit jelly,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It’s always good to have something to lean on instead of one of your friends.”<\/p>\n
‘Dancefloor is dead’<\/p>\n