Tentative steps for pill testing in Victoria and South Australia

The governments of Victoria and South Australia have reiterated their opposition to pill testing at music festivals.

But tentative moves have begun to possibly change this.

Today, the Greens are introducing a bill in Victorian parliament for a trial.

It is initiated by Greens deputy leader Ellen Sandell.

Yesterday she told Parliament that she was aware of the Just Say No message when she and her friends took what they took was ecstasy at festivals in their student days.

But like the five young people who died from overdoses or poisoning this summer, “youthful optimism, our curiosity and our sense of invincibility” overtook caution, and she and her friends were lucky they didn’t take anything fatal.

Sandell stated, “Just Say No isn’t working.

“[Pill-testing at festivals] is long overdue and it’s the right thing to do.”

According to the Greens, the estimated cost of a two-year trial for Victoria would be $3.5 million.

This includes full set-up and staffing of up to five services, including both fixed-site and mobile.

In South Australia, the Greens’ Tammy Franks said her party would continue to push for the state government “to be open to research and evidence” on the issue.

In the meantime, the Adelaide Advertiser reported that Adelaide City Council said it will examine whether pill testing for events in the city and the parklands could be introduced as part of an upcoming review of the council’s city safety policy.

Dr David Caldicott of Pill Testing Australia – who’ve just been green-lighted for tests in Canberra at Groovin’ The Moo – has as a result offered a free pilot test program for any council who took up on the offer.

He started pill testing at the Enchanted Forest raves in SA ten years ago.

Dr Caldicott told the Advertiser that the SA government’s stance against pill-testing at music events “is not supported by the evidence.

“It’s a politics argument which I understand.

“But people need to be quite careful opposing it if they don’t provide good reason to do so because a lot of the people who want it are of voting age.”