Bluesfest boss Peter Noble supports pill testing at major festivals

Byron Bay Bluesfest boss Peter Noble has backed pill testing at major music festivals, saying it will save lives.

Byron Bay Bluesfest boss Peter Noble has backed pill testing at major music festivals, saying it will save lives.

He was speaking as pill testing is used for the first time in Queensland at the Rabbits Eat Lettuce festival, also being held over the Easter weekend, on the Darling Downs.

With the average age of Bluesfest patrons around 40, Mr Noble said pill-popping was not a major issue at his festival, where patrons were more likely to puff on a sneaky joint.

Byron Bay Bluesfest festival director Peter Noble says pill testing could prevent overdoses. Picture: Nigel Hallett

But he said he backed the concept to reduce the risk of potentially deadly overdoses.

He said he had been a supporter of pill testing since a teenage girl died at the Big Day Out festival in Perth in 2009 after swallowing three ecstasy tablets because she feared they would be detected by police sniffer dogs.

“She lost her life and I would never want that to happen at my festival,” he said.

“I think we don’t want to lose young lives.”

Mr Noble said he also supported the idea of “amnesty bins” at festivals where patrons could dump drugs before being nabbed by police.

“I’ve personally put that to government a number of times but it went in one ear and out the other,” he said.

“We have amnesty bins at airports for people who bring in the wrong types of food and so forth, so why not at festivals if it could help save someone’s life?”

Police with sniffer dogs are attending Bluesfest, where Welsh crooner Tom Jones headlines the bill on Saturday night.

Originally published as Bluesfest boss Peter Noble supports pill testing at major festivals