US study shows why pill-testing essential at Aus festivals

Image: Stereosonic Festival in Melbourne

While the need for pill-testing at Australian music festivals has been put in the forefront after a recent report on ABC-TV’s Four Corners, a new US study shows why it is essential.

Researchers from New York University found ecstasy tablets to be mixed with equally harmful substances, including the banned designer drugs bath salts. The hair drug testing were conducted on volunteers who came from electronic dance music (EDM) festivals and ravers in New York clubs.

“Ecstasy wasn’t always a dangerous drug, but now people are taking garbage without realizing it,” said study co-author Joseph Palamar, 38. “Kids are going to do what they’re going to do. You’re not going to stop them… But if they feel that they have to use drugs, the kids have to do it safely and they need as much information as possible.”

Bath salts were banned in the USA in 2012 because their neurological effect is similar to MDMA and lead to paranoia, agitation, chest pains, suicidal thoughts and death.

On the weekend, the Sydney Morning Herald reported exclusively that pill testing would begin at music festivals – although it won’t be sanctioned by the powers that be.

President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation, Dr Alex Wodak and emergency medical specialist David Caldicott announced a privately funded drug testing “trial”. They realise it’ll pit them against the government’s zero tolerance law enforcement solution which will not accept pill-testing as an option.

“We are going to do this,” Dr Wodak, who in 1986 introduced the first needle syringe program, told the SMH. “Doctors, analysts who know how to operate the [testing] machines and peer interviewers who can translate the scientific results and explain to people why the drug they bought is talcum powder or highly toxic. The idea is to save lives. I am prepared to break the law to save young people’s lives.”

The Four Corners’ Dying To Dance report pushed for anonymous pill-testing as well as a ban on sniffer dogs at music festivals because of their fear factor. It followed punters at Field Day, Rainbow Serpent and Electric Gardens across summer.

According to the report, Australia was the biggest consumer of ecstasy and MDMA. 400,000 young Australians use recreational drugs, and that the number of deaths and hospitalisations resulting from drug were rapidly increasing. Australia spends about $1.2 billion on law enforcement and $40 million on drug harm reduction.

In the aftermath of the report, the Greens began a push for a pill-testing scheme in the Australian Capital Territory. But it was rejected by both the ACT Government as well as Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson who said it “would probably make it easier for drug dealers ply their trade.”