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. […]

Harm Reduction Australia president Gino Vumbaca said the evidence for pill testing is “being ignored”. “I think it’s a bit disingenuous of the Premier to now say, ‘give me the evidence’, when she set up a taskforce that specifically excluded evidence being presented or discussed,” Mr Vumbaca said. “To not even have the ability to sit down and discuss this…

In a statement on Tuesday, the Ross-King family said it hoped the government would use the teenager’s death to improve “harm reduction” initiatives. “We encourage the government to courageously take all the active measures possible to reduce the risk, in particular festival goers, through intensifying current initiatives as well as implementing other harm reduction strategies,” the statement said. […]

The fact is the “war against drugs” has long been lost, young people are dying due to deadly fillers in their drugs and the current “zero tolerance” approach is not working. And pill testing offers a valuable opportunity for professionals to engage with and educate drug users, and steer them towards help where appropriate. […]