Gladys Berejiklian Still Opposes Pill Testing, Reckons There’s “No Evidence” For It
Uh, Gladys, let us show you the evidence...
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has once again confirmed her opposition to pill testing in NSW, despite the overwhelming success of a trial at Groovin The Moo festival over the weekend.
Groovin The Moo hosted the second ever Australian pill testing trial at their Canberra leg over the weekend, and the results were startling. According to Pill Testing Australia, 234 people participated in the trial, with 171 individual samples were tested. Of those, seven samples tested positive for the potentially deadly substance n-ethylpentylone, and were discarded by patrons in the study’s amnesty bin.
Pill testing advocates deemed it an overwhelming success. “There was no hesitation for binning the more dangerous products,” Harm Reduction Australia’s Dr David Caldicott told Sunrise. “One thing that should be emphasised is that when they were told about the potential hazards, many were shocked. They hadn’t really felt that they had been educated about that they had been educated about that before. They were very prepared to modify their consumption.”
But clearly, the message isn’t getting through to Berejiklian. As reported by 7 News, the premier remains staunchly opposed to the idea of hosting trials in NSW.
“They haven’t shown there’s any evidence yet,” she told reporters in Sydney today. “My position on pill testing remains firm. I don’t think it works, I don’t think the evidence is there and I don’t support it.”
The NSW Governments is about to launch an inquiry into the ice epidemic across the state — but when asked whether she would consider pill testing if the inquiry recommended it, Berejiklian once again dodged the question.
“Of course I’ll read it if they put it up but I’m not convinced they’ll find evidence because there’s no such evidence anywhere,” she said.
Five festival goers tragically lost their lives due to suspected overdoses over the last festival season in NSW, with fatalities at Defqon.1, FOMO Festival, and Lost Paradise. As a result, the NSW Government implemented tough new regulations for festivals, which have been roundly condemned by the industry.