BY CHRISTOPHER HARRIS
Two NSW Government MPs spoke out about the need for pill testing following the two drug related deaths at the Stereosonic Music festival this week.
But politics is preventing the government from showing leadership on this issue, according to the president of Harm Reduction Australia, Gino Vumbaca.
He said that governments had to stop worrying about the perception that “it’s soft, or not trying to win a war on drugs”.
“We’re talking about young people dying at festivals,” Mr Vumbaca said.
“Politicians have to look at the evidence and make decisions based on that, not decisions based on what someone may perceive them to be if they change their mind.”
Sydney MP Alex Greenwich and Greens MLC Mehreen Faruqi urged the government to adopt a harm prevention approach last week.
Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi said that the current approach taken by NSW Police was not working, and was akin to “banging our head against a wall.”
She said that the government’s approach should be evidence based, and that the State’s priority should be on saving lives and minimizing harm, rather than stamping out drug use altogether.
“The reality is that drug use occurs in the community and that is unlikely to change. Our challenge is to find the policy parameters that are focused on preventing harm, not simply to look like we are doing something.
“At festivals, this could include pill testing to identify harmful contaminants and to check the purity of the drug before people take it as well as having far more trained medical and support staff at big events like these.
“Banging our head against the wall and sending more and more police to further criminalise drug use in our community just isn’t working. We owe it to the community to take a nuanced and evidence based approach to reducing harm and enacting global best practice here in NSW” Dr Faruqi said.
Sydney MP Alex Greenwich, in a letter to Premier Mike Baird, said that law-and-order approaches to drug use had little impact and increased the risks associated with it.
“Drug dog searches have doubled since 2009, yet during this time reported drug use has increased from 12.1 per cent to 13.8 per cent of the population. Drug dog operations can increase the risk of harm when people consume all their supply prior to going out or on seeing police in order to avoid detection,” Mr Greenwich wrote.
He described the use of drug detection dogs as leading to “invasive” strip searches, as well as rarely targeting drug dealers.
Mr Greenwich also said criticized the criminal records handed to people who are occasional recreational users.
He called on the government to introduce a trial pill testing program, mirroring that which has been done in Germany and the Netherlands.
“Under controlled conditions, pill testing can change people’s behaviour, stopping them from taking something potentially lethal or encouraging them to be more responsible with how they use drugs.”
Mr Vumbaca told City Hub that the current approach was causing more harm than good.
“The current policies, sniffer dogs and heavy police presence, aren’t really deterring drug use and there is evidence to suggest that it could be leading to drug overdoses,” he said.
“When young people have pills on them and they’re attending a festival and they see sniffer dogs, some people are scared of getting caught, and they’re swallowing all the pills in one go to avoid detection by the sniffer dogs, and there’s a high risk of overdose as a result.”
Mr Vumbaca told City Hub that he wants to see a pill testing program trailed in Australian music festivals.
“We want to see what impact that has and whether we can replicate the results that we’ve seen overseas,” he said.
“We’ve seen pill testing trials in some European countries, like the Netherlands, and the results have been very promising. The evidence is in, but we will need political support, simple as that.”
