The state government has announced a 12-month trial of pill testing at music festivals starting early next year. It means people can bring illicit drugs to live events and have them checked for impurities. The premier insists he’s not condoning drug use but has agreed to the plan in hopes it could save lives.
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00:00With the summer festival season heating up, the government's been under pressure to reverse
00:07its stance against pill testing.
00:09The Premier concedes he was one of the least enthusiastic of his cabinet colleagues.
00:13I was a sceptic going into it, but ultimately we all need to be led by the evidence, we
00:19need to be led by the facts as they're presented to government.
00:22The Premier says the recent drug summit helped change his mind.
00:26It's presented from around Australia and the world that pill testing can change behaviour
00:30for the better.
00:31So we know 10-20% of people throw away their pill after it's been tested.
00:37We know drug taking is moderated after it's been tested.
00:41The 12-month trial will involve medical professionals who'll be able to warn drug users about the
00:46potential dangers.
00:47I can assure you as a parent of a 14-year-old, illicit drugs scare the living hell out of
00:52me.
00:53But I'm also realistic.
00:54The problem with pill testing, or a trial of pill testing, is it sends a message that
00:59normalises drug use.
01:0119-year-old Alex Ross-King died from an MDMA overdose in 2019.
01:06Her mother, Jenny, denies suggestions pill testing offers a green light for drug use.
01:12It's actually not, it's a red light, because they're actually stopping for a moment and
01:15thinking about what they're about to do.
01:17The government says police patrolling festivals will steer clear of the drug testing tents
01:22and won't search those coming in or out or gather intelligence there.
01:26But the Premier says there'll be zero tolerance everywhere else.
01:30That means continued use of sniffer dogs and even strip searchers, something critics say
01:35will be counterproductive.
01:36You would think if you passed a line of police with sniffer dogs and one of your friends
01:41gets dragged off to be strip searched, you're probably not going to go and use the pill
01:45testing tent because of the attitude of police that day.
01:48The Premier admits parts of the policy are contradictory, but he hopes the trial will
01:53save lives.