NSW pill testing at music festivals to roll out from October

NSW opposition leader Kellie Sloane has hit out at plans extend drug pill testing at musical festivals saying “there is no safe way to take drugs”.

“I reject the idea that this will, in the long run, save more lives,” Ms Sloane said on Wednesday.

It came as the NSW government revealed it would roll out pill testing at selected music festivals from October after a trial found the service helped cut harm and reached people who had never before used health support.

The Minns government has committed $4.3m to continue the program at up to 15 festivals a year.

“We had the Knockout Festival in October last year where there were 14 drug overdoses while there was pill testing. There is no safe way to take drugs, there just isn’t,” Ms Sloane said.

“And I think by being permissive, by effectively sending a signal that it’s okay, or that your drug is safe just because it’s been tested to be of the purity you thought, it’s a wrong message.

“A drug can be tested for purity, it can be tested for being what the person actually thinks it is, but there is no way of telling the impact on an individual’s body,” she said.

“A person can take a drug and they might be okay, the next person, it may kill them.”

The opposition leader warned Australians about the “dangerous territory” the NSW government has entered into.

“I don’t think we should be permissive. I ultimately don’t believe it will save lives,” Mrs Sloane said.

“The way we save lives is to send a very clear and unequivocal message that any way of taking drugs is not okay.”

The decision to role out the testing follows a 12-month trial that drew strong use from festival goers and was linked to fewer urgent drug related hospital presentations and ICU admissions than in previous years at the same events.

An independent evaluation led by the University of Sydney found the free, anonymous service gave festival attendees a chance to have a small sample of a substance tested for purity, potency and adulterants before deciding what to do next.

Over the trial, more than 1800 people used the service and about 1500 samples were tested.

The program will be run by NSW Health in partnership with NUAA and the music festival industry.

Festival attendees who choose to use the service will be able to voluntarily submit a small drug sample for on-site analysis by chemists from the NSW Health Pathology Forensic & Analytical Science Service.

Qualified peer workers from NUAA will then explain the results and provide advice to help people make informed decisions about their health.

Amnesty bins will also be available in the drug checking area for people who choose to dispose of their drugs.

NSW Health stressed illicit drugs remain illegal and that the service is not an endorsement of drug use.

Instead, it is designed to reduce risk by connecting people with qualified health staff and peer workers who can explain the results and offer harm reduction advice.

Health Minister Ryan Park framed the move as a practical safety measure.

“Let me be clear, no level of illicit drug use is safe and drug checking services are not a silver bullet,” Mr Park said.

“There will always be risks involved when consuming these substances, and this initiative does not endorse drug use.

“Drug checking at music festivals can reduce harms associated with drug use, and it ultimately saves lives.”

The evaluation also found the service reached many people who had not previously engaged with health or harm reduction support, creating an opportunity to speak with them before drug use and reinforce that there is no safe level of illicit drug use.

It also found the service changed behaviour, particularly when test results showed a substance was different from what the person expected.

For families who have pushed for change, the announcement marks a significant moment.

Advocate Jennie Ross-King, whose daughter Alex died after taking drugs at a music festival, described the decision as the result of years of loss, grief and campaigning.

“The enormity of reaching this point is not lost on me,” Ms Ross-King said.

“This journey began with the most devastating loss imaginable, the death of my beautiful daughter, Alex, and has continued through more than seven years of grief, advocacy and repeatedly telling her story in the hope that someone would listen.

“Young people take risks, that is the reality of life, but they do not deserve to die because of one decision.

“This will go a long way towards giving young people the information they need to make safer choices and, ultimately, ensuring they come home safely to the people who love them.”

NSW Health will now consult with festival organisers and harm reduction groups to choose the events that will take part each year.

Those festivals will be selected based on factors linked to a higher risk of drug harm, including their type, size and location.

Community support organisation Uniting NSW/ACT – which runs the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Kings Cross – on Wednesday welcomed the NSW government’s announcement but called on the government to make the drug tests available all over the state.

“Today’s announcement is a welcome start, and the NSW Government should be congratulated for taking this positive first step,” Uniting director of advocacy and external relations Alice Salomon said.

“Drug checking gives people potentially lifesaving information and creates an important opportunity to connect them with trusted health advice and support,” Ms Salomon said.

“But people who use drugs, don’t only do so at music festivals. Access to proven harm reduction services shouldn’t depend on whether or not you can afford a festival ticket, where you live, or the circumstances in which you use drugs.

“Every person who uses drugs deserves access to the harm reduction services that will help keep them safe. At a time when drug overdose deaths are double the road death toll, proven harm reduction services need to be available as widely as possible,” she said.

She said the offer to host drug checking at its St Stephen’s Uniting Church opposite NSW Parliament House on Macquarie St still stands.

University of Sydney senior lecturer Rose Cairns praised the positive signs the checking has brought for festival-goers.

“What we saw when we looked at the festivals that had drug checking compared to the same festivals in the two years prior was quite a significant reduction,” Ms Cairns told the ABC.

“In terms of hospital presentations, on average the festivals that had drug checking there were 2.3 presentations per day, whereas historically there had been 3.6.

There was a similar reduction in ICU, reduction in ambulance transfers so while we’re cautious about over-interpreting these results there does seem to be really encouraging reduction in drug-related health harms, in the festivals that had drug checking.