As the Australian music festival scene tries to recover from a plague of issues in recent times, two expertsย have taken it upon themselves to sort out the rampant drug issue by initiating trial runs of drug testing at festivals across New South Wales.
While this seems like a step in the right direction, the move has received zero support from the Australian government, who still have an opinion of resorting to regular drug-prevention methods like employing sniffer dogs to adhere to their stringent policies.
Dr. Alex Wodak and Dr. David Caldicott, the two experts spearheading this operation, are extremely positive about drug-testing, and are willing to break a few laws for it.ย Dr. Wodak has ensured that there will be no money from taxpayers involved, but he hopesย for a few big festivals to lend him support.
In an excerpt from Fairfax, the two doctors are prepared for the onslaught of mass arrests that might happen if the drug-testing move is implemented. They’ve also stated that they’ll need at least $100,000, either in donations or as a crowdfunding campaign, to carry out the tests.
However, NSW Premier Mike Baird has a completely different opinion. According to The Guardian, the Premierย has dismissed the planned pill testing trial โridiculousโ, and has also said, โWe are not going to be condoning in any way what illegal drug dealers are doing.โ
According to Music Feeds,ย NSW Police Minister Troy Grant saidย the State Government wonโt fund a pill testing scheme, but was working on a way to curb the drug problem by using police resources to enforce the law.
Only time will tell whether the Government has its way or the festival community benefits from drug testing.