Drug-testing kits to be handed out at Sydney music festivals
A large influx of drug-related deaths in Australia — coupled with the government’s staunch prohibitionist approach to illicit substances — has led the grassroots activism movement Just One Life, along with other figures in the Australian medical field, to take matters into their own hands.
At the start of festival season, volunteers for the organization will begin providing free drug-testing kits to festival attendees in order help them get a closer look of what exactly they’re putting in their bodies. The idea was inspired by an initiative put out in February by the Australian Drug Law Reform foundation president Dr. Alex Wodak and his associate Dr. David Caldicott to begin implementing high-quality testing facilities on festival grounds.
Their original idea was stifled quickly by the government, however, which continued to press threats of prosecution on anyone associated with the preparation and installment of such facilities. Thus, they opted to pair with Just One Life to ensure their initiative would move forward anyhow, albeit in a less effective manner than originally planned.
Dr. Caldicott voiced his disappointment over the city’s refusal to listen to the scientific community on this issue: “It is disappointing. There is a far better way we could do this. But they (the government) have ignored the evidence and expertise available to them.”
H/T: Mixmag
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