Opinion: Nadia Bartel escaping charges for alleged snorting video sends the wrong message

If Bartel is as sorry as she says she is — and ready to make amends — why hasn’t she confessed to police and copped the punishment?

Why hasn’t influencer Nadia Bartel been charged with drug offences? She’s been caught on camera snorting a white powder which is unlikely to be anything but cocaine.

Today we learnt that Victoria Police made inquiries into the video of Bartel and three other women, which was accidentally posted to Instagram.

However, Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said there was not enough evidence to press charges.

“We have been unable to determine what the substance on the plate was,” he said.

Given that Bartel is shown snorting it up her nose, it’s unlikely to be talcum powder.

The same thing happened when model Kate Moss was photographed snorting a white powder. The photos were on the front of every newspaper in the UK in 2005. Police said they wouldn’t press charges because they couldn’t prove what substance was taken. They cited a lack of eyewitness accounts.

If Bartel is as sorry as she says she is, and ready to make amends, why haven’t she and her friends admitted to police what they were doing and copped the punishment?

Bartel says she takes “full responsibility” and is “committed to taking all necessary steps to ensure I make better choices in future”.

But this doesn’t seem to be the case.

Bartel has escaped charges for the alleged cocaine snorting video.

Police at Nadia Bartel’s house after a video was posted on social media of her snorting a white substance. Picture: Josie Hayden

No wonder cocaine use is so prolific among older teens and twenty-somethings. When glamorous young women aren’t held to account for their drug use by police – even when there’s evidence – it sends the wrong message to others.

Remember swimmer Geoff Huegill and his wife Sara who were caught with cocaine at the races in 2014? They were honest about their possession of small amounts of the drug, co-operated with police when spotted, and were each given six-month good behaviour bonds.

They weren’t filmed but they were caught and they confessed to what they had been doing.

Under Victorian law using a drug of dependence other than cannabis is an offence with a maximum penalty of $4560 or one year in jail. Police must be able to prove that the offence occurred at a particular time and place, the substance was an illegal drug (such as cocaine), and was in the possession of the accused.

As one legal guide states: “To convict you of using cocaine, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you used or attempted to use cocaine”. Admission of self-administration can be part of the evidence.

Some would argue Bartel has paid a high enough price already given that she’s been fined for breaking lockdown and has lost a number of high-profile endorsements.

But surely, she should be treated like any other person and charged by police for her drug taking?

Seeing high-profile celebrities escape drug charges suggests cocaine use is a minor trapping of the glamorous life rather than an illicit, addictive, dangerous activity.