Victim's mother backs coroner's recommendations on pill testing at festivals

Pill testing would be introduced to NSW music festivals and police sniffer dogs scrapped from events if a set of draft recommendations is acted upon by the state government following the deaths of six revellers.

In proposed measures lauded by the mother of one of the tragic festival-goers, Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame urged the Berejiklian government to consider decriminalising the personal use of illicit drugs and stage a drug summit to develop evidence-based drug policy.

Nineteen-year-old Alex Ross-King, left, died after consuming MDMA at FOMO festival and her mother, Jennie Ross-King.Credit: Facebook, Edwina Pickles

The draft document seen by the Herald also recommends the creation of a state-sponsored drug checking facility to mirror the Netherlands-based Drug Information and Monitoring System (DIMS), and that strip-search legislation be overhauled.

The draft recommendations follow a three-week coronial inquest scrutinising the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Alex Ross-King, 19, Joshua Tam, 22, Nathan Tran, 18, Callum Brosnan, 19, Joseph Pham, 23, and Diana Nguyen, 21, who all died after consuming MDMA at music events between December 2017 and January this year.

Jennie Ross-King, the mother of Ms Ross-King, said Ms Grahame's recommendations reflected the evidence of the experts during the evidence and acknowledge the points of view of the families who contributed their experiences to the judicial inquiry.

"I thought they were great. They're very comprehensive and common sense. From everything we heard, it's based on the facts, the evidence, the information that was brought to the coroner," Ms Ross-King told the Herald.

"I think we have been listened to with our concerns.”

Ms Ross-King said that she believed in and supported the introduction of pill testing, but said the drug summit was the best opportunity to get politicians in the same room as experts to hear the evidence that had been presented in the inquest.

But she also criticised the leaking of draft recommendations weeks ahead of Ms Grahame officially releasing her findings as disrespectful, saying she hadn't yet had time to properly respond to the proposed measures before they were revealed.

The draft recommendations included reference to an academic report calling for strip-search laws to be tightened after NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller tried to have the University of NSW paper excluded from the inquest.

The report, by law faculty lecturers Michael Grewcock and Vicki Sentas, argues the definition of a strip search should be clarified and the "deeply humiliating" practice of requiring a person to squat and cough or bend over while undergoing a search should be explicitly banned.

Ms Grahame also urged NSW Health to research and support lifesaving measures at festivals such as ice baths, and that festival organisers be encouraged to provide shade, plentiful drinking water and chill-out spaces.

The coroner further recommended the Department of Education embed the six deaths and her upcoming findings into the high school curriculum, which would also include looking at the risk factors of MDMA use.

The Herald is seeking comment from government ministers regarding the recommendations. Transport Minister telling media on Tuesday morning that the government would wait until the coronial findings were released.

Joseph Pham and Diana Nguyen both died of drug overdoses at Defqon.1 music festival in September last year.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has repeatedly voiced her opposition to pill testing, describing it as a "green light" to take illegal substances.

The inquest heard evidence from a number of experts, including emergency doctor David Caldicott, who said pill testing provided an opportunity for qualified health professionals to intervene and discuss various risk factors of drug taking with users who wouldn't normally interact with drug services.

Ms Grahame said that in the event pill testing was approved, the police commissioner should issue operational guidelines requesting police focus on stopping drug dealing instead of punishing people for possession, and highlighting that it is part of "good policing" to engage positively with festival-goers whereever possible.

Ms Ross-King said she also wanted to see police youth officers or peer workers made available for revellers suspected of having drugs on them.

Ms Grahame recommended that sniffer dogs be removed from festival policing "given the evidence of a link between the use of drug dogs and more harmful means of consumption", including double-dosing on MDMA capsules.

She proposed that if possession remained a criminal offence then drug amnesty bins be provided at music festivals.