Current drug laws put people’s lives at risk

It’s no surprise there were drugs at Rhythm and Vines. From Iceland to Invercargill, people everywhere will have welcomed in the new year with an altered state of mind. But it was a real concern when authorities found fake ecstasy tablets that posed a real public health risk. Police said those tablets, which were intercepted on entry, contained traces of pesticides and industrial paint.

The festival issued a warning to its app users because, as event manager Dan Turner said, they wanted patrons to know what they might be taking isn’t what they think it is.

But if safety is what’s important, then shouldn’t the festivalgoers have known about those bad drugs earlier?

Punters should be able to easily find out what they are taking before authorities test their seized loot. To do so, drug testing needs to be readily accessible.

Regardless of the legality of a product, if you’re going to consume anything you should be able to find out exactly what you’re about to take.

I know many of you will be thinking, ecstasy is illegal and therefore its users shouldn’t be getting help to test for its purity.

Many readers said as much when we reported about the dangerous drugs seizure at Rhythm and Vines.

I’m not here to argue about social rights and wrongs, because this is a matter of safety.

The current drug laws put people’s lives at risk.

By making it difficult to conduct drug testings at festivals, our drug laws have opened the market to sadistic drug peddlers who don’t care if their customers live or die.

These drug laws allow money-grabbing fiends to sell anything from sugar pills to paint-laced tablets under any label they choose.

At Rhythm and Vines, workers – who spoke on condition of anonymity – told me festivals have become a target for dodgy dealers who are looking for inexperienced and naive customers.

They’re looking to sell their fake, and potentially dangerous drugs, to buyers on the spur of the moment.

You can’t blame excited, young partygoers for wanting to try something new. But the law as it stands exposes these fresh-out-of-high-school kids to serious risks, one of which is death.

That’s the reality when the law prohibits a venue operator from knowingly allowing illicit drugs to be consumed on premises. The penalty is 10 years in prison, which is a decent deterrent for organisers. It could easily be argued that by allowing drug testing and drug education on site, the festival organisers are allowing drug use.

The Misuse of Drugs Act also makes it illegal to possess banned substances. It can be difficult to test drugs when it’s illegal to possess them. This means further tests can’t be done to find out what, exactly, drugs are made of.

When organisations such as Know Your Stuff do undertake voluntary drug testing, it can be limited.

The organisation says it operates within the law, in that its staff don’t handle the drugs and any samples presented to them are destroyed.

Last festival season, their tests found that 21 per cent of people were ready to consume drugs that were not as advertised.

We know that the Consumer Guarantees Act doesn’t cover drug dealers.

At least if some of these party drugs were legal, we would know what’s in them and users could easily seek advice.

Even if you don’t support drug use, many people are trying them anyway. They would be safer if there was a reliable place to buy them.

A more immediate solution, however, is a change to the law to readily allow drug testing.

The Police Minister, Health Minister and Prime Minister have all signalled their intentions to change the way we deal with drugs. They say the Government will approach drugs as a health issue, with the goal of harm reduction rather than punishment.

The scare at Rhythm and Vines on New Year’s Eve showed how important it is for the law to be changed.

New Zealand is the priciest place to buy MDMA, so it’s no surprise fakes are on the market.

Had those drugs entered the festival, who knows what would have happened to those who took them?

A man in Sydney died at a similar festival before New Year’s Eve. He had taken what he thought was a harmless orange party pill, but its contents were fatal.

It’s a lolly scramble out there for drug users. You don’t know what you’ll get.

With just a few festivals left, we finished 2018 with a lot of luck.

We can’t rely on luck.

Festival security personnel aren’t able to find every illicit substance being smuggled in, but they were lucky to find those pesticide-laced drugs at Rhythm and Vines.

By next year, hopefully, new drug laws will be in place to save lives.

I’m not here to argue about social rights and wrongs, because this is a matter of safety. The current drug laws put people’s lives at risk.