“This decision shows great leadership,” said Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesperson, Greg Barns. “The Council is sensibly responding to the strong medical evidence that shows pill testing will save lives, and to the growing wave of support for this approach.” However, the ALA is disappointed that the state government is refusing to re-consider its position on pill testing. […]

Ms Ross-King also saw a demonstration by proponent David Caldicott showing how pill testing works. She believes that if pill testing was available her daughter would have used it, and she does not think widespread testing would encourage drug taking. “They just say this will harm you. And they say that straight up, there’s no green light from what I’m…

Legalising pill testing won’t green light illicit drugs or normalise their use, a drug addiction academic has told a NSW inquest. Ahead of her attendance at the annual north coast Splendour in the Grass music festival, Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame on Friday heard from three expert witnesses on the impacts of legalising such services. […]

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. […]

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.’ […]

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…

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.…

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. […]

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. […]

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.” […]