The NSW Labor opposition has left open the possibility of pill testing being part of its future drug policy, an option that has stirred debate in Wagga for years.
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Opposition leader Michael Daley said “pill testing should not be off the table” in response to another drug-related death at a NSW music festival on the weekend, the fourth fatality since September.
Wagga Labor candidate Dan Hayes said the party was leaving open all options for the experts for a drug summit if they won government in March.
“The summit would bring in experts, police, ambos, clinicians to come together and discuss what do we do next, what do we need more of and what aren’t we doing,” he said.
“We can’t sit there and start ruling things out before the summit happens.”
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian she was “devastated” to hear of the death at a festival at Glenworth Valley but her government would not change its stance on pill testing.
“There is no such thing as a safe illegal drug and I urge everyone who is attending a festival to stay safe and think carefully about the decisions they make around drugs,” she said.
Large numbers of drug arrests during the Burning Seed Festival at Matong Forest have prompted debate in Wagga about pill testing.
Wagga musician and recording studio owner Grant Luhrs, who has been involved with Wagga's Stone the Crows Festival, said he supported pill users being able to check for harmful impurities.
“It is a very sensible and practical way to go, because if you can save just one life by introducing a testing regime, I think most sensible people who take drugs like that, if you can call them sensible, would avail themselves of testing,” he said.
Former Greens candidate Ray Goodlass wrote in favour of pill testing in a Daily Advertiser column late last year in response to a trial run by the ACT Government.
The ACT Health Department could not guarantee the safety of any pills tested, stating the trial was run “on a harm reduction basis only”.
“Illicit drugs, including amphetamines and MDMA, are inherently unsafe and testing can’t certify that you won’t suffer an adverse reaction by taking them” the department’s website stated.
In response to Mr Goodlass, Robert Walker argued in a letter to the Daily Advertiser that pill testing was unsafe and would encourage drug use and dealing.