Belgium’s Summer Festivals: Drug Policy, Lost Items, and Outdoor Culture

As Belgium’s summer festival season reaches its peak, three distinct stories are capturing attention: the ongoing debate over uniform drug policies at major festivals like Tomorrowland, the logistical challenge of unclaimed lost items at Dour Festival, and a curated guide to outdoor exhibitions across Flanders offering quieter cultural alternatives.

The Drug Policy Debate: Uniformity vs. Flexibility

All Belgian festivals operate under a zero-tolerance policy toward drug use, but enforcement varies significantly from one event to another. Festivalgoers caught with drugs for personal use must surrender them and pay an immediate fine, while dealers face direct court summons and heavier penalties. However, as VRT NWS reports, experts are divided on whether a more uniform approach would be beneficial.

“No single measure is the holy grail,” said Lies Gremeaux, head of the drugs unit at Sciensano, Belgium’s scientific knowledge center. Gremeaux advocates for more standardized rules to reduce what she calls “grey zones” and room for interpretation.

National Drug Commissioner Ine Van Wymersch, however, takes a different view. “A uniform approach is not necessarily desirable,” she told VRT NWS, arguing that each festival’s unique character requires tailored enforcement strategies. The principle of “opportunity” (opportuniteitsbeginsel) allows local prosecutors to emphasize different aspects based on local needs, leading to variation across festivals.

Rising Drug Potency Raises Stakes

The debate comes against a backdrop of increasingly dangerous drug trends. The National Institute for Criminalistics and Criminology (NICC) analyzed 2,354 samples at Tomorrowland and Extrema Outdoor in 2024-2025, identifying 31 different psychoactive substances. Ecstasy tablets that contained a maximum of 100mg of MDMA in 2015 now contain a minimum of 180mg, with one “Audi” tablet testing at a staggering 470mg — more than double the already dangerous threshold.

New trends include “pink powders” — unpredictable mixes of MDMA, ketamine, 2C-B, and caffeine — and vapes containing THC variants and synthetic cannabinoids like 5F-MDMB-PINACA. As The Brussels Times reported, Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) opposes legalization, stating “there is no political agreement today, nor even the possibility of one, on legalisation.”

Despite the concerns, only 1.6% of medical interventions at Tomorrowland in 2025 were drug-related — approximately 29 cases out of roughly 5,000 total first aid treatments. The most common medical issue remains sprained ankles.

Dour Festival: The Lost and Found Challenge

As the Dour Festival wrapped up its five-day edition with 230,000 visitors, another logistical challenge came into focus: what happens to the hundreds of items left behind?

According to RTBF, between 500 and 1,000 items are collected and returned during the festival at the lost and found stand, managed by the National Lottery. The most commonly lost items are mobile phones, ID cards, wallets, bank cards, and keys.

“We find everything,” said Benjamin D’Agresta, Partnership Manager at the National Lottery. “What we return most are phones, and then ID cards, wallets. Sometimes people bring us bags with absolutely people’s lives inside!”

The lost and found team uses a shared Excel spreadsheet to meticulously catalog each item with distinctive features for easy searching. Unclaimed valuable items — phones, ID documents, and other valuables — are transferred to the municipality of Dour, available from Wednesday 22 July at objetstrouves@communedour.be.

One memorable anecdote from 2025: a festivalgoer lost all his belongings — tent, suitcase, and food bag — on the first day and spent all four days of Dour without his equipment, recovering everything only on the last day.

Outdoor Exhibitions: Cultural Alternatives Across Flanders

For those seeking quieter summer activities, VRT NWS culture journalist Joris Vergeyle has compiled a guide to five outdoor exhibitions across Flanders, as reported by VRT NWS.

Highlights include the 10th edition of The Crystal Ship in Ostend, which transforms the city into an open-air street art gallery, with a special “Subway Art” exhibition at Fort Napoleon. The Ooidonk Art Festival in Deinze offers an art route through fields around a 17th-century farmstead, running until August 30. The Beeldentuin Hugo Voeten in Geel spans 15 hectares with works by Panamarenko and Wim Delvoye. The Kunstenfestival Watou in Poperinge returns with its signature blend of art and poetry, this year featuring an AI poet named “Woutje.” Finally, Lichtzoekers in Brussels places life-size sculptures on rooftops and facades, created by sculptor and TV maker Senne Dehandschutter.

Looking Ahead

As the festival season continues — Tomorrowland runs its second weekend from July 25-27 — the National Drug Commissariat and the General Cell Drug Policy (ACD) are working on an advisory framework that will compile “good practices” from all festivals after the summer. Whether this leads to more uniform drug policies across Belgian festivals remains an open question. Meanwhile, for those navigating the crowds, a word to the wise: keep your phone charged, your keys secure, and consider exploring the quieter corners of Flanders’ cultural landscape.