Port Phillip council, which includes the popular St Kilda entertainment district, is calling on the Victorian Labor government to allow and help fund drug testing at participating venues. “Two years ago the Port Phillip council said that we supported the use of a trial. Since then there’s been a bitter harvest of dead bodies around the country,” Mayor Dick Gross…

When the millions of Australians … who have used cannabis, ecstasy or cocaine over the past twelve months hear the Premier’s message that “there is no such thing as a safe illegal drug” and “just say no” they wonder what planet she is living on. Young people are not fools. They want us, as politicians, to “get real” about illegal…

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians, which represents more than 17,000 physicians and paediatricians, has sent an open letter to NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian and her counterparts urging them to follow the lead of the ACT. […]

I hope Australia embraces pill-testing, just as it embraced the supervised injecting room. But we must act fast. How many Australians will die before we remember this significant part of our identity — that we are a gloriously practical people? […]

“The failed war on drugs has killed our friends, family and others in our community for decades while politicians and police have wilfully ignored the mounting evidence that zero-tolerance drug policing does not work,” organisers said in a statement. […]

Australia’s peak body for physicians have called on Premier Gladys Berejiklian to introduce pill testing trials at NSW festivals, telling her there is sufficient evidence to support the intervention. The Royal Australasian College of Physicians have written to Ms Berejiklian – and her state and territory counterparts – imploring her to reconsider her hardline stance against pill testing. […]

The NSW coroner will hold an inquest into the recent deaths of five people of suspected drug overdoses at music festivals across the state, with a public hearing to kick off next week. The announcement follows the death of a 19-year-old Central Coast woman on Saturday after she attended FOMO festival at Parramatta Park. […]

“We encourage government to courageously take all active measures possible to reduce the risk, in particular, festival goers, through intensifying current initiatives as well as implementing other harm reduction strategies. Pill testing is only one measure. There is no safe level of drug consumption BUT, it is an opportunity for intervention.” […]

Caldicott sayd Australia has entered “an evidence-free zone” on drug policy. “This issue of pill-testing is climate change for drugs,” he said. “Young people understand climate change and they understand the consequences. So when politicians wave coal in parliament, young people think they’re knobs. Similarly when young people hear politicians talk about drugs in a way they don’t think is…

If the government didn’t listen after multiple campaigns begged for a fresh approach to the complex problem of drugs at music festivals, maybe a large-scale demonstration at Sydney’s Town Hall will get their attention. This Saturday over 7000 people will descend on Sydney’s Town Hall to demand the Government support pill testing at raves and music festivals. […]