Image: Music festival. Image: Forte Magazine
After years of work from countless advocacy groups, political parties, and community organisations, pill testing is finally being trialled in New South Wales.
Announced by the Minns government this morning, pill testing will begin at music festivals early next year, helping people to make safer, more informed choices about the drug they’re taking.
Testing will be free and anonymous. Festival goers can supply qualified health professionals with a small sample of their drug, which will be tested for purity, potency, and adulterants.
Health Minister Ryan Park said that the move was influenced by the NSW Drug Summit held in early December.
“I asked the co-chairs to provide interim advice to government ahead of their final report from the summit due early next year.
“Based on this advice, which reflects the diverse range of views of experts, frontline workers and people with lived experience, we will embark on a limited trial of pill testing based at music festivals.”
Park says that there is no silver bullet solution, but that the government was listening to experts and evidence.
The trial will go for 12 months and will cost a little over $1 million to roll out the service in festival grounds.
The government was quick to say that the trials will not effect police efforts in targeting drug suppliers, and that the services will not be available to those seeking to supply drugs to others.
Mixed community response
The news of the trials has been welcomed by ACON, with CEO Michael Woodhouse saying that the group strongly support harm reduction initiatives that put public health first.
“Drug checking has been shown in other jurisdictions to improve access to support, reduce drug-related harm and save lives.
“This trial demonstrates a forward-thinking and practical response to a complex issue. It is one more component in the effort to reduce drug related harm.”
Independent MP Alex Greenwich, who led an open letter to the Premier calling for urgent drug reforms, said the decision was mature, and prioritised saving lives over entrenching the stigma of drug use.
“The truth is that people continue to take illicit drugs; providing drug checking is a non-judgemental way to intervene and help people make more informed decisions based on the potency and contamination of their substances that could save their life.”
The Greens have also welcomed the decision, but are pushing to begin the trial on Boxing Day when festival season starts, rather than the “early February” date Minns is planning for.
“With festivals like Lost Paradise, Field Day, and Spaced Out in Byron Bay taking place in late December and early January, along with New Years Eve and the holidays, most of the larger summer festivals will have concluded by early February,” said MP and drug harm reduction spokesperson Cate Faehrmann.
“The Health Minister has received proposals by experienced pill testing services who are ready to set up with qualified health professionals within days. They’re operating in other states so it’s not that hard to get their services in NSW at the time when they’re needed the most. “
Faehrmann also called for the end of strip searches and drug detection dogs, citing recommendations from the Coronial Inquest into Drug Deaths at Music Festivals.
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