Georgina Bartter drug death: Experts divided on how to stop more deaths

EVERYONE seems to agree that something needs to change. But will those changes happen in time before the next drug-related death?

THE shock death of Sydney woman Georgina Bartter at the weekend has triggered debate on what Australia needs to do to stop a similar tragedy from happening.

Experts have suggested everything from pill testing kits, more awareness and better drug education, to improved tests of illicit drugs that were already on the market.

But the truth is there is very little agreement on what can be done to save lives —other than the current approach isn’t working.

Matt Noffs, the chief executive of the Noffs Foundation and co-founder of Street University, said pill testing kits were needed so drug users could see for themselves what they were taking.

Part of the danger is that drugs are mixed with other chemicals to bulk up the supply and those chemicals can have a dangerous — and undesired — effect on the user.

Mr Noffs told news.com.au part of the argument against pill testing was that it would encourage drug use. But he insisted that wasn’t the case.

“Drug dealers are never left there saying how do I get rid of all my stuff’ ... It’s just not a problem they have.”

By allowing pill-testing users could see if there were sinister elements to the drug, therefore reducing the risk.

Georgina Bartter who is thought to have died of a drug overdose at a dance party in Sydney on November 8.

He believed if Georgina Bartter had been able to test her pill she wouldn’t have died.

“I don’t think so, I don’t think it would’ve happened.”

Mr Noff said drugs needed to be regulated. “Regulation needs to be researched straight away.”

But drug educator Paul Dillon wasn’t convinced pill testing was the answer.

“I think it could be part of the answer but I don’t think it should be solely relied on,” Mr Dillon said.

There was no way pill testing could mean any drug user could be totally satisfied what they were taking was the real thing — or safe.

He pointed to recent deaths in the United Kingdom where people had died from MDMA poisoning. “And that’s the stuff that you want [from the drugs].”

He cautioned against a knee-jerk reaction after tragic deaths like Ms Bartter’s. “There’s no simple answer to problems like this.”

He often fielded questions from people asking why drugs affected some people in a much different way than others.

Georgina Bartter (left) who died after taking what’s believed to be ecstasy at the Harbourlife Festival in Sydney

“You can bet that there were people at that event on Saturday that took the exact same pill as that young lady ... But who were fine. Sometimes it just comes down to bad luck.”

Associate Professor Lucy Burns, of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, said the prevention issue was complex,

“You can have the bandaid solution, you can take away or put in more dogs and police, but in the biggest picture you need more education and awareness.”

Part of that was realising the drugs on the streets now were not the same as they had always been.

“The drugs that are available now aren’t the same drugs that were available at parties 10 years ago. It’s a more Russian roulette type situation. People thought ecstasy was a fairly benign substance but these days you don’t know what you’re taking. They’re trying to do all sort of legislative things to stop this sort of stuff coming through, like regulating selling drugs online, but I think a lot of it really comes down to raising awareness.”

But those possible solutions could be problematic.

People have been leaving flowers at the Sydney home of Georgina Bartter’s devastated parents.

“It always sounds really simplistic to me. How are you going to test every cutting agent under the sun? The whole nature of drug manufacturing has changed. People who produce and sell pills do it to make a profit, they’re going to have the lowest level of purity to make a habit.”

Instead the question that needed to be asked was what is it we are trying to regulate? Assoc Professor Burns said it was no longer simply a matter of one drug now.

“ ... you can’t just say let’s make everything legal — we don’t know what we would be making legal. A lot of drugs contain halluconagenic properties that people don’t expect. All those things are simplistic solutions, the world needs an international think tank on how to handle it — and we really need to educate people on the dangers of what they’re doing.”