Waiting for a crisis: Fears as NSW enters festival season without drug reform

Drug reform advocates are concerned about NSW’s upcoming festival season, fearing drug deaths will reach crisis point before the government implements promised reforms.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has ruled out introducing pill testing ahead of the festival season, which begins next Saturday with Listen Out Festival in Centennial Park, while NSW Police have confirmed drug detection dogs will be used at the festival as part of a “high-visibility police operation”.

Drug detection dogs will be in force at the Listen Out Festival next Saturday. Credit: Fairfax Media

Pill testing and decriminalisation were among the recommendations of the 2019 Ice Inquiry along with a coroner’s report that same year into the drug-related deaths of six festival-goers between December 2017 and January 2019, which also recommended scrapping sniffer dogs at festivals.

Most of the drug policies of the former government remain in place as Minns has pushed back any reforms until after the long-promised drug summit which aims to replicate the success of former premier Bob Carr’s 1999 summit.

While in 2019 Minns originally pledged to hold the summit in his first six months, in the last election the promise was to hold it within the first term.

Premier Chris Minns has said the government will announce a drug summit in its own time.Credit: AAP

Carr held the 1999 summit within two months of being re-elected.

On Saturday, Minns reiterated his position: “Illicit drugs are illegal, and that has always been the case,” he said.

Minns said previous autopsy toxicology reports from people who died at music festivals found heat and dehydration contributed to deaths at music festivals more than tainted drugs.

“We are looking at health messages in relation to the use of illicit drugs at those music festivals, but we are not changing the law of the land ... that’s been the case of the previous government and the one before that.”

The premier has also rebuffed calls to decriminalise small quantities of drugs.

Managing director of the Australian Festival Association Mitch Wilson said the delay in announcing a drug summit was “disappointing”.

“We had hoped the summit would be held this year, so that pill testing services, if supported, could be rolled out at festivals this summer,” they said.

“We know the warm weather being predicted is cause for concern that the harms from illicit drug use could be higher this summer.”

President of Harm Reduction Australia and Pill Testing Australia Gino Vumbaca said he was worried about the upcoming festival season.

“We had hoped with a change of government that there would be a rethink on this,” he said.

In February, a 26-year-old man died from a suspected drug overdose after attending Transmission music festival in Sydney, while earlier this month, a Victorian coroner called for the introduction of pill testing after a man died from a pill with dangerously high concentrations of MDMA.

Harm Reduction Australia has offered to run a free pill testing trial at any festival of the NSW government’s choosing, but has been told no decisions will be made until after a drug summit.

During its first six months of operation, Canberra’s pill testing facility found more than half the drugs tested contained unexpected substances, leading to one in ten samples being discarded on site.

Vumbaca is also worried that drug sniffer dogs, which a coroner found to have been linked to the deaths of at least three young people who attended music festivals between 2017 and 2019, would cause attendees to panic and consume more drugs than planned.

As revealed in state parliament, over 4000 searches have been conducted following a drug detection dog indication in the first six months of the year, compared with 6500 in the whole of 2022. More than two-thirds of those searches found no illicit drugs.

“We’re putting people through this very humiliating experience, and for some a very traumatic experience for those who might have trauma in their past, based on whether the dog sits down beside you,” Vumbaca said.

NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann said the current government was continuing a dangerous “business as usual” approach on drug policy.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

NSW Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann said the state risked another series of overdoses if drug policy continued on its current trajectory.

“The very same practice [as the previous government] will be rolled out at music festivals over the summer. A huge concern of mine is the continued police harassment which makes drug taking less safe and does nothing to stop people taking drugs,” she said.

“The government is only going to act on drug reform after a crisis.”

There was no line item for the summit in Tuesday’s budget, though it may be included in the overall $31 billion health budget.

Earlier this week, Minns said the government was determined to hold a drug summit, but had “a lot on [its] plate”.

“We’re committed to doing it ... When it’s time to announce the next stage of the drug summit, I’ll announce it,” he said.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.