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Family Of Overdose Victim “Wanted To See” Pill Testing At Splendour, Says Doc
Dr David Caldicott told PEDESTRIAN.TV that punters were distressed by the number of uniformed police officers and sniffer dogs attending to the event’s main thoroughfare over the weekend. There was “clear fear in the faces of people not involved” with the sniffer dogs, Dr Caldicott said, adding he was “very attuned” to the discomfort of punters entering the festival grounds. […]
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‘I don’t want another child to die’: Shattered mother of girl, 19, killed by festival drug overdose holds back tears as she campaigns for pill testing at Splendour In The Grass
Ms Ross-King fought off tears as she watched the demonstration and said the testing measure should be implemented immediately.’I guess the disappointing part is that this has been 20 years in the making,’ she told reporters afterwards. ‘Enough is enough. You know, like … enough. It’s getting beyond a joke now.’ […]
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‘Enough is enough’: festival victim’s mother wants pill-testing implemented
The mother of a young woman who fatally overdosed at a Sydney music festival said the pill-testing debate was “getting beyond a joke” after she received a first-hand look at the logistics of testing at the Splendour in the Grass festival on Saturday. “This is why I’m feeling like I need to help promote that change and that behaviour because…
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Mum of teen who died of drug overdose attends pill testing at Splendour
19-year-old Alex Ross King died at the FOMO festival this year after ingesting MDMA pills and on Saturday her mother, Jennie Ross-King, was campaigning in support of pill testing at the popular Byron Bay music festival. Following the demo, Ms Ross-King told journalists: “I guess the disappointing part is that this (pill testing) has been 20 years in the making.…
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Splendour in the Grass festival prepares for police onslaught over drugs at Byron Bay
Australia’s peak drug reform body has slammed the NSW government’s decision to ramp up the police presence at this weekend’s Splendour in the Grass music festival in Byron Bay. The Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation warned heavy-handed police, sniffer dogs and a continued ban on pill testing in NSW, could prove a potentially lethal cocktail. […]
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Toxicologists throw support behind pill testing ahead of major festival weekend
President of the Forensic and Clinical Toxicology Association (FACTA), Dr Dimitri Gerostamoulos, told newsGP his organisation supports pill testing. ‘We support the notion of pill testing, and that’s true for most forensic toxicologists. We are not advocating that illicit drug use is OK, but we support the notion that pill testing is effective, not only here but overseas. […]
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Coroner to watch Splendour pill test demo
Ms Grahame is expected to receive a private police briefing at 9am before meeting with harm minimisation group Red Frogs. She will later have a front-row seat as David Caldicott – an emergency medicine specialist and the leader of Australia’s only sanctioned pill testing trials – demonstrates how drug checking works. […]
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Strip-search trauma similar to that of sexual assaults, NSW music festival inquest told
A harm reduction campaigner and a criminologist told a NSW coroner on Friday the experience of being ordered to undress in front of police and accused of concealing drugs could cause long-lasting mental effects. The harm occurred regardless of whether the people were concealing drugs or not, researcher Peta Malins said. […]
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Pill testing won’t ‘green light’ drug use
Edith Cowan University psychologist Stephen Bright told the inquiry pill testing offered a way to counsel young people about illicit drug use. “The evidence we have is pill testing doesn’t give the green light or normalise drug use,” he said. “With one in 10 people having already used ecstasy, drug use is already normalised.” […]
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‘Stuck in war on drugs’, says NSW Health music festivals consultant
A medical expert who helped draft the NSW government’s music festival guidelines has told an inquest Australia is “stuck in a war on drugs” and sniffer dogs at events are “unhelpful”, leading patrons to undergo riskier behaviours. St Vincent’s Hospital toxicology, pharmacology and addiction medicine specialist Jonathan Brett also said the nation was lagging behind other countries that have instituted…