Drug checking trial a success, now make it permanent
Greens MP and drug law reform & harm reduction spokesperson Cate Faehrmann is calling on the Minns Government to make drug checking at music festivals permanent and expand it into other sites in the community following the release of the New South Wales Music Festival Drug Checking Trial: Final Report
The independent evaluation found fewer drug-related hospital presentations, ambulance transfers and ICU admissions at festivals where drug checking was available compared with previous years.
“If anyone needed any more evidence to show drug checking works, here it is loud and clear,” said Ms Faehrmann.
“The trial showed that when people were given an unexpected or inconclusive result, they were more likely to take less or discard their drugs entirely.
“This is what reducing the harm from drugs looks like.
“For some reason, the Government has sat on this report since March so there’s no excuse for any more delay. This report shows that drug checking at music festivals reduces harm so let’s make these services a permanent fixture.
“However, according to the latest Annual Overdose Report there were 575 unintentional drug overdoses in 2024 with almost every one of these occurring in a setting that wasn’t a music festival.
“With highly dangerous substances increasingly being found in common street drugs including cocaine, ketamine, methamphetamine and MDMA, permanent drug checking services in the community are essential if we’re to save more lives,” said Cate Faehrmann.