NSW agrees to pill testing trial at music festivals amid calls from experts to decriminalise drugs
NSW agrees to pill testing trial at music festivals amid calls from experts to decriminalise drugs
State government trial follows years of pressure from health advocates to introduce pill testing and end ‘harmful’ drug policing practices
Will be interesting to see how this plays out vs NA & Euro examples given the relatively high level of party drug adulteration in Aus.
Next step: make festivals alcohol-free. As long as there is de facto sanctioned interaction between party drugs and alcohol, incidence of negative experiences and associated antisocial behaviour will be high and reflect negatively on party drug users.
What about people that don't want to take drugs and just have a few drinks to chill?
Not everyone wants to smash a ten pack of mdma caps to have a good time. Ask me how I know.
Depends on the type of festival I suppose. Speaking generally though alcohol is by far the biggest contributor towards antisocial behaviour, injury etc at festivals. It's also the drinker that's more likely to overdose like you allude to. Drug testing tents in other parts of the world disseminate information about dosage and ways to be safest. They seem to be ban alcohol almost independently of any decisions about drug testing.
If it's a rave, 100% ban alcohol
The cops will be waiting outside the testing station with sniffer dogs, and escort you off to be strip searched.