Already and this is the daily This is the daily ohs oh, now it makes sense. Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Tuesday, the eleventh of March. I'm Billy and I'm a choll. Earlier this month, thousands of people attended the two day Yours and Ours Festival in Wollongong, New South Wales. The regional festival is of significant importance because it's the first to participate in the state's first ever pill testing trial. It's obviously not a
new idea. Pill testing trials have become increasingly common across Australia in recent years, with governments allowing pop up clinics at schoolies in Queensland and festivals in Victoria. For New South Wales, it's an idea that has historically been shut down repeatedly. So in today's podcasts our very own Atoll got an inside look at how the service was right you actually went to the festival and look at exactly
what goes on in the pill testing trial. Before we get to what it was like in the trial, I want to understand how we got to this point because, like I said, in New South Wales it has historically been shut down that's.
Exactly right, Billy. I mean, drug safety at festivals is increasingly becoming a conversation that more people are eager to have and there is a reason for that. I mean, between twenty one and twenty nineteen, sixty four people died because of drug related causes at Australian music festivals. So six of those occurred in New South Wales between December twenty seventeen and January twenty nineteen. Now more recently, two more people died in twenty twenty three, also at festivals
in New South Wales. The decision to greenlight the twelve month pill testing trial comes after a New South Wales drug summit held last year. Now. The summit, which was one of the New South Wales Labor government's election promise aimed at addressing the issues faced by people impacted by drugs and alcohol, event brought together a bunch of people. This included experts, people with lived experiences, drug user organizations
and families. It is quite significant because the last time New Southweld held a drug summit was in nineteen ninety nine.
Wow, that is so long ago, and so my understanding of what this drug summit is was to understand what is happening certain trends in the drug space or in drug consumption in the state, and then to look at how the harm caused by drugs can be minimized exactly. And so what came out of this drug summit?
Yeah, So, as mentioned the Drug Summit that happened last year, we're still waiting for the final report which is due to be handed down next year. But in the interim a pill testing trial was recommended by the experts on the panel and the New Southwal's government actually agreed to take in on this initiative.
Right, so the drug Summit recommended that there should be this pill testing trial in New South Wales. The New South Wales government agreed to it, and that is what happened two weekends ago now at the Yours and Our Festival where they had the first ever pill testing trial. I tell you went to it? I did you went to it on a Sunday?
Yep?
What did it involve?
So the pill testing trial followed very similar guidelines to how other states have run theirs in previous years, so meaning at music festivals or at one off events where there are likely to be people who are planning to use illicit drugs under the trial ten set festivals are set up for attendees to have their drugs chemically analyzed, and the purpose of this is to identify potentially harmful or unexpected ingredients.
So the idea that when you are taking something that is illegal, you don't necessarily know what is inside it, and it could be different to what you thought it was, and these trials are aimed at detecting exactly that.
Exactly, so they're being used as a harmonimization service essentially. Now the process is confidential, anonymous, and honestly it takes about fifteen minutes. So once the drugs are tested, health professionals review the results and provide professional advice to people who brought the drugs in about what is in their drug exactly.
Okay, And again, you were there, do you want to tell us about what your experience at the festival was like, specifically in terms of the pill testing, not about I mean, I'm sure, I'm sure the music was great.
I had a great time to grow on because were it what were they? Yeah?
They actually were Wow? Did you get to hear them or was it strictly professional.
Strictly business? So, yeah, I went to the festival on the second day. It was a two day event. Upon arrival, the pill testing tent was one of the first ones you saw by the entrance. New South Wales health workers made their presence really known to attendees. There were there, there were signs, There were posters along the strip letting people know basically that the service was available. Now. I spent time chatting to some of these attendees and the
general attitude about the tents was pretty positive. Here are some examples of what people had to say about it.
So many people who have had bad drugs just trying to have a good time here. All the time, I thought that it was everywhere. I didn't know was the first one in use at Whales. That's crazy.
It should just be everywhere. It's like, it's the smarter and safer way to do it.
Really, I think. Yeah, harm minimization is pretty forward thinking.
It healthy.
Okay, So it sounds like the crowds were pretty receptive to it. Do we know how many people actually used the service?
Yeah. Over the two day festival, more than one hundred people visited the tent. Now, out of those one hundred, eighty drug samples were tested with MDMA ketamine and cocaine being the three most common substances brought in. Health experts said that eleven percent of those samples were not what people actually thought they had with them.
Interesting, I know.
And they said in several cases people actually threw away the drugs they brought in after having conversations with those professionals. Now for context, these tents also had amnesty boxes where you could safely discard your drugs, and occasionally, at these festivals where pill testing trials are being run, drug warnings can be issued if experts pick up on substances that
deemed dangerous. But at this festival, New South Wales health experts say they did not have to issue any of those warnings, nor were there any critical drug related harm events reported, So.
That's probably considered a success, I would presume, right, Yeah, that's.
Pretty much their ideal outcome for these services, and so.
Pill testing trials, like we said, it is an initiative that a lot of young people are in support of, just like the people that you spoke to at the festival a Chunnel. But I know, as we mentioned at the top of the podcast, that the New South Wales government in particular has historically been against this. Do you want to kind of take us through that history there.
Yeah, So the New South Wales government's track record on this subject makes it pretty hard to imagine. Right. Concerns about pill testing have been consistently raised across the country, and that's including New South Wales, where the previous coalition government repeatedly rejected a formal recommendation to run a trial like this one. Now, the coalition STAN is rooted in the belief that pill testing could give drug users a misleading sense of safety when taking illicit drugs.
Okay, So they're concerned about the idea that if you're someone who goes to this pill testing, you give them their pill, they say, yes, this is what you thought it was, and then you take it. They're worried that you're then under this kind of misguided understanding that what you took is safe. But obviously, as we know, no drugs are safe, and so they're saying that it is misleading people into thinking that what they are taking is safe.
I feel like I've said safe ten times, but you get what I'm saying.
No, that's exactly right. And at the time then Premier Dominic Perotoe his message to young people was basically don't do drugs because no matter what, there is always a risk. But with the change of government, with the new Labor government coming in in New South Wales, we've witness quite a shift in the state's attitude towards the service. So the current New South Wales Premier Chrismin said that the move is about saving lives and not encouraging drug.
I think this is where it gets interesting, because obviously drugs are still illegal in New South Wales and in every state and territory in Australia drugs are illegal. But I can see why some people would say that isn't this a contradiction when drugs are illegal and you actually have police at the festival monitoring and trying to see if there are people there with drugs, and they have sniffer dugs I presume. But then in the same space you also have a tend where people can go test
their pills. So how do they kind of navigate that contradiction because I can see why for some people it would be considered mixed messaging.
No, absolutely, I mean when I showed up to the festival and I saw the pill testing tent set up right next to the police tent. It was a little striking that juxtaposition.
But to be clear, if you are in the tent, police can't come and get you and say you're doing something illegal. They can't come and arrest you, right exactly.
The pill testing tent is a legal safe space. But in the lead up to the festival, you know, the organizers, the government, the police all made sure to stress the fact that drugs do remain illegal in New South Wales and that the law still applied to the rest of the venue.
So to be clear, there were sniffer dogs conducting drug searchers and police conducting drug searchers.
Absolutely, police presence was pretty strong throughout the whole festival. On both days. They were officers patrolling and roaming the festival site. A mobile police unit had been set up right by the entrance, and like you said, those officers were using sniffer dogs to conduct drug searchers as people lined up to get into the venue. In those drug searchers that were conducted at the front of the venue, mdermine cannabis were among some of the most popular drugs
found by police. By the end of day two, police charged twenty three people with drug possession.
I think that's really interesting and something that as there are more of these trials across Australia that we'll have to see how that goes with the country addiction of you know, police arresting people for having drugs and then very close to that having a tent where you can consume drugs safely. I think it'll be really interesting to see what the future of pill testing looks like. No doubt you'll have to attend more festivals, all in the name of work.
I guess if I have to be there at chel.
Thank you so much for breaking that down for us and for spending your sundays into investigating it for The Daily Ohs. Thank you, and thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Daily Ods. We'll be back again this afternoon with your evening headlines, but until then, have a great day.
My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Aarunda Bunje lung Chalcuttin woman from Gadigl Country. The Daily os acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past in present.