Victorians will soon have the option to have their illicit drugs professionally tested before use, with the first tests to be introduced at music festivals this summer. The state government plans to trial the most effective method for pill testing over an 18-month period, with the Premier confirming that drug checking will become a permanent fixture. State Political Reporter Richard Willingham has more details.
Category
đŸ“º
TVTranscript
00:0012 years ago, Adriana Buccianti lived every parent's worst nightmare.
00:06Epping Police came to tell me he was never going home again.
00:10Daniel was 34. He died after taking drugs at a festival. Ever since, she's demanded
00:15pill testing.
00:16If you have a service where they test it and they say, this will kill you, I can tell you
00:22nobody wants to come out of a nightclub or a festival in a body bag.
00:26It will soon be a reality.
00:28It does not make drugs legal and it does not make drugs safe. But it does mean we are going
00:34to give young people the information they need.
00:37A surge in overdoses, along with testing success internationally and in other states, has prompted
00:42action in Victoria. Mobile units will attend 10 festivals this summer before a fixed site
00:47is set up in the inner city next year.
00:50So why wouldn't we use this health-based approach, this evidence-based approach? Because if it
00:54has the potential to save just one life, then it's absolutely been worth it.
00:59The free service will cost $4 million and comes with expert and multi-party support.
01:05And so these services are about creating a non-judgmental space in which people can get
01:10access to information, which supports them to make better choices.
01:14If someone's got money to buy expensive festival tickets and expensive drugs, why should taxpayers
01:20be picking up the tab on quality control?
01:23The Police Association has big concerns. It says pill testing is not the panacea of
01:27illicit drug use and undermines their efforts. It also wants the government to explain how
01:32police are meant to enforce the law at festivals and other key events.
01:37We need to see the end to the tough on drugs, war on drugs kind of policing that we've historically
01:41seen around drug use.
01:43The opposition say it will stop pill testing should it win office.
01:47This is giving a green light to young people to say it's okay to take these pills.
01:52There's still a lot of work to be done. I think this is a step in the right direction.