The results from the first ever NSW pill testing trial at Yours & Owls festival this weekend has been revealed.
Announced last month by the Minns Labour Government, punters were given access to a free service run by a government agency, led by qualified staff from NSW Health, to test their pills for purity, potency, and adulterants. Previous festivals with the green light to test gear had done so with programs run by private companies or NGOs.
For years, organisers of festivals including Yours and Owls have advocated for pill testing, as they acknowledge that an ‘abstinence-only approach’ to drug use at festivals is not the right way to address the problem, Rather, harm minimisation needs to be prioritised.
Ben Tillman, co-founder and director of Yours and Owls, referred to tough and expensive rules that came into force in early 2019 under the Gladys Berejiklian Liberal Government following a spate of drug-related deaths at open-air events, and suggested those rules are why pill testing in NSW has been severely overdue.
“Over time, pre-Covid, festivals seemed to get quite politicised. In 2019, festivals were unsafe, and we don’t believe in that. We want to keep people as safe as we can, to the best of our ability,” he said.
“This dialogue has been happening over the past five years… it was first raised to me years ago, and we were just super excited and thankful for the opportunity now.”
The Health Minister described the pill-testing trial which saw 103 punters use the service and 80 samples tested, as “really positive”.
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According to NSW Health, festival goers mainly had MDMA, ketamine, and cocaine tested, with 71 samples (nearly 90%) matching what the user thought they were getting.
The results for nine of the samples were “unexpected” or “inconclusive” – and have been passed on to the Forensic & Analytical Science Service for further confirmatory testing.
A small number of samples were discarded in the amnesty bin as a result of intervention from the health professionals, according to NSW Health.
“I have been advised that the pill testing site at Yours & Owls Festival helped patrons make safer choices by connecting them with qualified health staff who can provide information along with harm reduction advice,” NSW Health Minister, Ryan Park, said in a statement to Rolling Stone AU/NZ.
“NSW Health and NSW Police have worked closely and will continue to work closely with festival organisers and other stakeholders to ensure safe and effective implementation of the trial at future events.”
The Health Minister thanked the Yours and Owls staff, DanceWize peers, and NSW Health staff for their help in delivering this “important intervention”, while providing the nearly 30,000 festival goers with health advice and support.
Prior to the event, there were major concerns about the presence of NSW Police at the festival, and the different message this may have sent to punters.
An amnesty area was provided within the testing tent, which had a discreet joint entry and exit point, and over the weekend, police were not seen patrolling too closely to the tent. However, there was still a heavy presence across the festival, including sniffer dogs at the main entrance.
“Illicit drug use is still dangerous, harmful, and potentially fatal. Illicit drug use by its very nature is still illegal. Illicit drug use is not something that this festival, or any other festival, or the Government, is condoning in any way. But we are also realistic,” Park said.
“[Police] agreed, obviously, that the precinct is not somewhere they’re going to go… but we have been very clear that this hasn’t changed the legalities and the illicit nature of the drugs that are going to be tested.”
Tillman added: “We made sure that there were certain measures in place to make [patrons] feel like they’re not going to be judged or met with police right outside the door. But drugs are still illegal, and the police [were] here to enforce that.”
Park acknowledged that this was an “inherent contradiction”, but said police had a right to use “those types of instruments” like sniffer dogs to go about their operation.
At the two-day event, no drug warnings were issued and no critical drug-related harm events were reported.
The majority of punters who used the pill testing service rated it “very good” and said that as a result of the intervention, they felt “very confident” in their capacity to reduce drug-related harm.
Other recent trials have been successful too, including Victoria’s Beyond The Valley over New Year’s. According to the Government, over 700 people used the service with over 600 samples tested.
In January, the Victorian Government announced the trial would expand to four more local festivals following its success.
