ACT rejects pill testing at Canberra’s Groovin’ The Moo

The ACT Government has rejected a push to introduce pill testing at the May 7 Canberra stop of Groovin’ The Moo at the University of Canberra.

Last month, the ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury approached the Government on behalf of Harm Reduction Australia about a drug-checking trial: “The law and order approach to drug use hasn’t worked, and across Australia people are getting sick, and dying as a result,” Rattenbury said.

“The ACT has a real opportunity as a progressive jurisdiction to lead the way in harm minimisation, and influence other states and territories to follow suit.”

But the Government responded that after “careful consideration” it had turned down the idea.

In January, the ACT Government indicated that it might look at the possibility of pill testing, but had to work through complex legal and health implications before giving it the green light.

The rejection seems to be more a timing issue.

A Government spokesperson was quoted in The Canberra Times: “The Government came to the conclusion that the proposal would need a significant amount of work and a trial would not be possible in 2017.

“It is the Government’s understanding that the festival organisers came to similar conclusions.”

There is a possibility that the Spilt Music festival in December is a better option.

Shane Rattenbury said he was “bitterly disappointed” by the knock-back, and that it was a “wasted opportunity” given that 15,000 music fans are attending Groovin’ The Moo in Canberra.

There is a lot of support for pill testing as a common sense approach to overdose deaths at festivals. A February 2017 poll by The Guardian found 57% of participants were for the tests, while 13% were against. Support was highest in the 55+ age group, and also with Greens voters (71%), compared to those who voted for Labor (61%) and the Coalition (58%).

A Change.org petition, set up by Adriana Buccianti whose son Daniel died at a festival in 2012, has already totalled 38,707 signatures, out of a targeted total of 50,000. Another petition is at keepcanberrasafe.org.au.

Last month, the Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Association ACT released a report Keeping Young Canberrans Safe in which it stated that the ACT was the most enlightened place for drug tests at music festivals.

It called on the ACT Government to “convene, or commission another organisation to convene, a Roundtable of stakeholders and experts to investigate options for conducting a carefully monitored and evaluated trial of drug checking at Canberra’s music festivals, and on disseminating the findings of drug checking as part of a comprehensive, evidence-informed, drug-harm reduction early warning system.

“The development and implementation processes would reflect the principles of integration, collaboration, and a staged approach.”

Drug reform advocate Dr David Caldicott, one of the poster boys of the calls for drug tests, said, “Either our opponents have no idea what they are talking about, or they are lying.”