The Australian Scene: Drugs in Music Festivals

Drug testing at music festivals already happens in parts of Europe but can it work in Australia? SBS News spoke to the president of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation.

We have a moral obligation to minimise the risk of harm to festival-goers or “festies”. Health professionals have the technology to act on this moral imperative – drug testing. What they don’t have is permission from our politicians and law enforcement agencies. The truth is there needn’t be more tragedies like Sylvia’s: her death may have been prevented if evidence-based drug-testing facilities had been in place.

"The article focuses on the increasing issue of tragic deaths by drug users at music festivals in Australia. Topics discussed include role of politicians to address the issue of alcohol abuse, and harms due to heroin and crack cocaine, complex issue of drug regulation and prohibition, and benefits of legalization of marijuana as done in Canada and some states in America ... "

"A NSW Coronial Inquest investigating a series of drug-related deaths at Australian music festivals has heard evidence of festival goers taking multiple concurrent doses of MDMA to avoid police detection and not receiving adequate medical attention ... "

"The ‘pill testing’ debate in Australia has been shown to be a political minefield with governments on both sides of the political divide seeming to box themselves into positions ... "

"A medical expert who helped draft the NSW government's music festival guidelines has told an inquest Australia is "stuck in a war on drugs" and sniffer dogs at events are "unhelpful", leading patrons to undergo riskier behaviours ... "