A HUNTER MP has thrown her support behind a deeper discussion around pill testing weeks out from one of the Hunter’s biggest music festivals.
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Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison says she would support a conversation regarding pill-testing at NSW music festivals if it was part of a wider discussion about drug reform in the state.
It comes as the Groovin The Moo festival, which returns to Maitland on April 28, edges towards potentially hosting Australia's first legal pill-testing trial later this month in Canberra.
The ACT government, ACT Policing and the University of Canberra have given their support to the trial, but festival promoters Cattleyard Promotions are yet to green-light the proposal.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure pill testing goes ahead at Groovin the Moo," ACT Health Minister Meegan Fitzharris told The Canberra Times.
Groovin The Moo starts in Maitland on April 28, with Ms Aitchison saying she would be interested in looking at pill-testing at NSW festivals as part of a wider package of drug reform.
“We know that our young people are using drugs and pills and that they don’t know what they’re taking,” Ms Aitchison said.
“Their needs to be a proper conversation about this – one where we look into why people are taking this.”
Any change to NSW protocol would have to be “something that is done on the evidence” she added.
The State government has traditionally taken a hard-line stance on pill-testing at festivals, with Police Minister Troy Grant saying last year that the move “won’t happen” in NSW.
Speaking about a pill testing pilot program in 2016, Mr Grant called it a "very dangerous regime that the NSW government fundamentally rejects", and one that could have serious legal repercussions for those providing the service.
"[If] these pills go wrong and kill someone, they may well be vulnerable to manslaughter charges," he told 2UE radio.
Ms Aitchison criticised the stance.
“The Government’s approach to drugs has generally been pretty poor. It’s a conversation we need to have – one our government isn’t qualified to have,” she claimed.
We know that our young people are using drugs and pills and that they don’t know what they’re taking
- Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison
She said pill-testing was “one element” of drug reform she’d like to see, alongside aspects such as addressing the high rate of use of methamphetamine – commonly referred to as “ice” – in rural NSW.
Advocates of pill-testing at musical festivals say it will help prevent overdoses by allowing users to see what their drugs contain before choosing whether to consume them or not. Those against it say it could encourage more widespread drug use.
