‘Send in the dogs’: Police to target music festival after mass overdose

Victoria Police will use sniffer dogs and boost their presence at a hip-hop festival this week in response to a mass overdose at a recent electronic music event, as the state government shut down renewed calls for pill testing.

Experts and crossbench MPs questioned the effectiveness of increased policing when The Age on Tuesday revealed that fewer than half the people searched by police at music festivals were found to have drugs on them.

The Hardmission Australia festival was held at Flemington Racecourse last Saturday.

“Victoria Police will not tolerate any behaviour that compromises the public’s safety and will also have an increased presence at a music festival this week in Flemington on 12 January,” a police spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

“Police want people to have a good time and attendees should watch out for their mates to ensure everyone has a safe festival experience, and for anyone intending to take illicit drugs, we simply say, ‘don’t do it’.”

An industry source, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the details publicly, said the event to be targeted was Juicy Fest at Melbourne Showgrounds, headlined by performers T-Pain, T.I. and Ashanti.

Of the nine people who fell critically ill at the Hardmission Festival at Flemington Racecourse last weekend, four remained in a critical condition on Tuesday, the Department of Health said. Two others were in a stable condition and the remaining three had been discharged from hospital.

It will take a week for health officials to investigate what substances they overdosed on.

“Those involved are receiving care, and we’re expecting more information about the substances involved within the next week as we consider if further public health alerts or other steps are needed,” a department spokesman said.

The overdoses sparked fresh calls to introduce pill testing at festivals to allow people to have the contents of their illicit drugs analysed before they take them. Queensland and the ACT are trialling the harm reduction initiative, but Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has rejected it.

Acting state Greens leader Aiv Puglielli on Tuesday said sniffer dogs and tough talk from police and politicians would not save lives – but pill testing would.

Premier Jacinta Allan speaks to media in Seymour on Tuesday.Credit: Darrian Traynor

“What a pathetic response: send in the dogs. The exact opposite of what we should be doing to protect young Victorians,” said Puglielli, who is also the party’s drug harm reduction spokesman.

The Greens, Libertarians Party and Legalise Cannabis Party have pushed for greater transparency on the effectiveness of sniffer dogs, with data showing fewer than half the people searched by Victoria Police at music festivals were found to have drugs on them.

Greens MP Aiv Puglielli.Credit: Justin McManus

Of the 277 people searched at music festivals in 2022-23, police found illicit substances in 120, which were mostly general pat-down searches. Police said strip searches at music festivals were extremely rare. In 2021-22, drugs were found 282 times out of 654 searches.

The searches include those sparked by sniffer dogs and those initiated because of “police observations of overt behaviours”, the force told the parliament’s public accounts and estimates committee in answers to questions on notice last month. Data from the western Victorian region was missing “due to data capture irregularities”.

Dr Peta Malins, a senior lecturer in criminology and justice studies at RMIT University, said her research showed sniffer dogs did not deter drug-taking.

Instead, she said, they increased the likelihood of harm because people “preloaded” on drugs, hid them in cavities or took all their drugs at once when they saw police.

There were no sniffer dogs at the Hardmission Festival.

Allan on Tuesday said she had no plans to allow pill testing.

“If people are concerned about substances, don’t consume it. There’s a personal responsibility here as well,” she said. “That’s the way to stay out of hospital, that’s how to stay out of the intensive care ward, is to not take substances in the first place.”

Four coroners in six years recommended Victoria allow pill testing after investigating party drug deaths.

The Greens, Legalise Cannabis and Animal Justice Party have co-sponsored a bill seeking a pill testing trial, but it is destined to fail without support from the government or opposition.

Harm Reduction Victoria chief executive Sione Crawford said a pill testing facility at Hardmission would have given patrons the chance to check their drugs and make an informed decision on whether to take them.

Volunteers from drug education and harm reduction organisation DanceWize were onsite on Saturday when the mass overdose escalated rapidly, consistent with several people ingesting the substance at the same time.

Allan said Victoria’s health system was primarily focused on providing them critical care.

“It needs to be verified what they consumed ... let’s let that proper process run before there is an unnecessary, alarmist response,” she said.

The department has not issued a drug alert since August.

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