Today’s announcement that the NSW Government will introduce amnesty bins at music festivals will not be effective at reducing harm and may simply lead to an increase in policing without other harm reduction measures also being introduced, said Greens drug law reform and harm reduction spokesperson Cate Faehrmann.
“Amnesty bins on their own will not save lives. My fear is that police will use amnesty bins as an excuse to increase their intimidation tactics in the hopes that they can scare kids into throwing away their drugs,” said Greens drug law reform spokesperson Cate Faehrmann.
“The war on drugs has proven that a focus on getting people to not take drugs doesn’t work. If we can’t keep drugs out of prisons we’re not going to keep them out of festivals.
“The reality is that thousands of people will still take drugs at festivals. Amnesty bins will do nothing to reduce the harms of drug use for those inside.
“It’s disappointing that amnesty bins are the only recommendation from the Deputy Coroner’s report that the Premier has listened to. Just responding to this one recommendation is next to useless without other harm reduction measures such as pill testing and getting rid of sniffer dogs.
“If the Government was serious about saving lives they’d make reducing the harm from drugs their priority not their failed crusade of reducing drug use,” said Ms Faehrmann.
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