Health Minister’s warning about Labor’s ‘deadly deal with the devil’

EXCLUSIVE: Health Minister Brad Hazzard has called on NSW Labor to abandon its preference deal with the Greens after the party revealed plans to sell MDMA to teenagers.

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EXCLUSIVE: Health Minister Brad Hazzard has called on NSW Labor to abandon its preference deal with the Greens after the party revealed plans to sell MDMA to teenagers.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Hazzard said Labor Leader Michael Daley was “supping with the devil” by doing deals with the party which wants to make MDMA pills available to 18 year olds.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard with Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

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“Labor is only getting those preferences because they have promised deals and it looks like that might actually be deals on drug policy that frees up drugs.” Mr Hazzard said.

“It is just bizarre because having sat with the emergency doctors who have had these young people in the emergency departments with the patients’ internal temperature up over 45C and their organs cooking, I fail to understand how any responsible political party could support the legalisation for these drugs to be sold over the counter.”

A spokesman for NSW Labor said Mr Daley did not support the policy but would not comment on preferencing deals.

Inside the Defqon. 1 festival in Sydney where two people died of suspected drug overdoses.

Greens MP David Shoebridge announced his plan to legalise the sale of MDMA over the counter in pharmacies to “anyone over 18 with a valid photo ID”.

“We have a choice here, we either leave the sale and distribution of MDMA, and drugs that pretend to be MDMA, to organised crime operating on a black market, or we step in and regulate it,” Mr Shoebridge said.

Mr Hazzard said the policy was “appalling” and potentially deadly with early toxicology reports suggesting that the chemical MDMA — methylenedioxy-methylamphetamine — was responsible for all five of the recent NSW music festival fatalities.

This contradicts the notion that pharmaceutical companies could make safe MDMA pills because it is the pure chemical which can lead to death.

Proponents of MDMA legalisation falsely argue that removing the risk of contaminants will make MDMA pills safe.

Another Greens MP, Cate Faehrmann, made headlines in January after revealing she had regularly abused MDMA for decades.

A spokesperson for NSW Labor said Michael Daley did not support the Greens’ drug policy. Picture: AAP

She repeatedly refused to answer questions about whether she used drugs while in office.

Mr Hazzard said the Greens policy to legalise MDMA and Ms Faehrmann’s comments sent a dangerous message to young people which was contrary to official health guidelines and policy.

“The great misunderstanding with MDMA is young people think it is OK and safe and people like the Greens reinforce the message,” Mr Hazzard said.

“Cate Faehrmann’s comments, which effectively said ‘I took it so you can too’ were absolutely appalling and in my view encouraging young people to try drugs.

“That is not what should be happening … we should be reminding people that people have died

“In the last few months more people would have died if the NSW Government had not put in the high level critical care teams into the areas where young people were gathering.”

Mr Hazzard said Mr Daley had an obligation to reject Greens preferences deals if he does not agree with the policy.

“The Labor leader of NSW has been ducking and weaving putting everything off to the Never Never for his so-called drug summit but everyone in NSW is entitled to know what view he has.

“If he rejects this policy he should have rejected greens preferences.”