Drugtesting agency hopes for govt help

WELLINGTON: The drugtesting agency Know Your Stuff hopes the Government moves quickly to enable more festivalgoers to check what they are taking.

At a signing ceremony for a deal with the Green Party yesterday morning, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it was something the Government could make progress on, with New Zealand First no longer in the picture.

Know Your Stuff offers pill testing at events around the country but its director, Wendy Allison, said it relied on donations from the public and the hard work of a small team of volunteers.

She wanted ‘‘legal clarification’’ so the agency could seek more sources of funding and expand its services this summer.

‘‘While this is effective on a small scale, it is the Police Minister’s goal of being at every major event, which is where the most harm could be prevented,’’ she said.

She said testing had been under way at venues around the country since the return to Alert Level 1, and the agency would continue to operate regardless of whether the Government took action or not.

However, she said expanding the services was a matter of urgency.

‘‘We know there’s a lot of MDMA around, we know that there are a lot of MDMA knockoffs around, and we know that there are a lot of people that are concerned that they may not be able to party maybe going a little bit harder than usual,’’ she said.

Ms Ardern said any changes would not be about changing the legal framework or individual drugs, but recognising the value of drugchecking schemes.

‘‘It’s about saying that actually there is evidence overseas that those regimes save young people’s lives. And who would we be to turn away from that,’’ she said. — RNZ