NSW Government To Deliver Drug Checking Services At Music Festivals After Successful Trial

The NSW Government has committed $4.3 million to continue offering drug checking services at selected NSW music festivals from October, following a successful 12 month trial. The service will allow festival goers to anonymously provide sample substances (including illicit drugs) for testing by qualified health staff. 

The hope, which has now been empirically supported by the University of Sydney’s own independent evaluation of the trial, is that drug testing will reduce urgent drug-related hospital presentations and ICU admissions. Indeed, this is exactly what was observed over the course of the trial, which saw 1,800 individuals visit, and 1,500 drug samples tested for purity, potency, and adulterants.

Minns Labor Government “Does Not Endorse Drug Use”

While the Minns Labor remains in opposition to illicit drug use, Minister for Health Ryan Park has recognised that harm reduction strategies are often more effective at preventing injury than top-down policing. 

“Let me be clear, no level of illicit drug use is safe and drug checking services are not a silver bullet,” said Park. “There will always be risks involved when consuming these substances, and this initiative does not endorse drug use.

“Drug checking at music festivals can reduce harms associated with drug use, and it ultimately saves lives.”

What Festivals Will Participate In The Drug Checking Program?

NSW Health will now consult with the music festival industry and harm reduction organisations to identify up to 15 music festivals per year to participate in the program, which will be delivered in partnership with NUAA. Participating festivals will be identified based on characteristics associated with a higher probability of drug harm.

Through the program, chemists from the NSW Health Pathology Forensic & Analytical Science Service will analyse volunteered samples of illicit drugs on-site, providing service users with information about their contents alongside implicated harm reduction advice.

“Drug checking keeps people alive,” said Health Services Union NSW Secretary, Gerard Hayes AM. “As health workers we see the trauma suffered by parents, partners and family members when someone is lost or seriously hurt by a batch of toxic drugs.”

“We can’t keep exposing people to the chemical lottery of street drugs when there is a safer and smarter way to give people the tools and knowledge to look after their health”.