Should Australia institute pill testing at music festivals?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right: On December 30, 2019, 9 News published a report on the death of a young man at a New South Wales music festival, police measures to confiscate drugs and calls for pill testing.What they said...
'They have the power to be able to put a safety net in place'
A mother, whose son died of a drug overdose at a music festival in 2012, urging authorities to introduce pill testing
`It's a fairy floss safety net'
Louise Roberts, writing in The Daily Telegraph
The issue at a glance
On January 12, 2019, a 19-year-old woman died after a suspected overdose at the FOMO music festival being held at Parramatta. She was one of an unprecedented spike in drug-related deaths at music festivals in Australia at the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019.
In the last four months of 2018 and the first month of 2019 there was a dramatic spike in the incidence of deaths resulting from illicit drug use at music festivals.
Between September 2018 and January 12, 2019, five people aged between 19 and 23 died after taking drugs at festivals in New South Wales.
On January 1, 2019, 20-year-old Victorian man died after a suspected overdose at the Beyond The Valley festival.
The large number of deaths have led to calls from the Australian Drug and Alcohol Foundation, the Australian Medical Association and others for Australian states to introduce at least further trials of pill testing as a means of reducing the problem.
In April, 2018, the Australian Capital Territory had approved the country's first pill testing trial at the Groovin the Moo festival.
Currently other state governments are opposed to the move.