Pill testing should be made legal in Australia.
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There’s a sentence I thought I would never say. While I consider myself to be socially progressive, my thoughts around drugs are very conservative.
As a child and into my teenage years I was told to never take drugs. School and my parents drummed in the message of safety and the unknown.
I’m also a control freak. So the idea of losing control of my thoughts and body scared me to death.
I also read Anna’s Story as a teenager. The book tells the story of 15-year-old Anna Wood who went to a party and took an ecstasy tablet. Three days later she was dead.
Kids and adults will always experiment with drugs. This will never change. Abstinence will never be the solution.
I liken it to driving. My car, according to the speedometer, can travel at least 200km/h.
I know that is unsafe and highly illegal to travel at that speed. I have broken speed limits, I’m not perfect.
I was cautioned by the police when I was 18 and travelling 10km/h over the limit. Other than that one warning, I have never had a speeding ticket.
Others have been caught driving dangerously at high speeds.
Television commercials, school programs and first-hand experiences do hit home for many. Others still take risks.
What about drugs? We have this attitude that it won’t happen to me. That they’re not an addict, it’s just for recreational use. That they just got a dodgy a pill.
We all know those excuses are just that. Any drug taking behaviour is risky. And that is why I support pill testing at Australian festivals.
In the past 18-months seven people have died after allegedly overdosing on drugs at Australian music festivals.
Pill testing is common practice in many European countries. The Netherlands has been pill testing since the 1990s. The testing allows abnormalities or unknown elements within the drug to be identified.
One example is a batch of drugs that had a lethal ingredient. While the Netherlands picked it up in pill testing and was able to spread the word, in the UK four people lost their lives after taking that batch of drug. The UK did not have pill testing.
A factsheet produced on drug checking in Europe provides a fascinating insight into the research behind pill testing.
The factsheet suggests pill testing:
- Helps to reduce drug related incidents
- Increases the effectiveness of government response to new or lethal drugs
- Helps to reduce long-term drug abuse
- Introduces early intervention
Pill testing does not provide a positive test. It doesn’t say this drug is safe to take, therefore go and get high. What it allows is education and harm minimisation for drug use.
Australia already has supervised injecting facilities. This is where people can inject drugs and be supervised by a nurse or social worker.
This service, trialled at Kings Cross in Sydney, is designed to reduce overdose. It is obviously targeted at addicts.
Pill testing is an opportunity to deliver that safe health message to recreational drug users.
Information on the pills would give these people an opportunity to make educated decisions and debunk the “it will never happen to me” or “these drugs are safe” argument.