Essay On Drug Testing In Australia

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Drug Testing in Australian Music Festivals Illicit drug use in Australia is a serious health issue impacting young people. As a community we need to consider how we can protect young people from the harm of drug use, particularly at music festivals these being a popular social occasion for young people and an event where drug use is becoming more common. One way to protect young people from the dangers of drugs and to reduce harm is to ensure that drug checking and pill testing is mandatory at all Australian music festivals. Drug testing also called “pill testing”or “drug checking” is an approach to harm reduction. It gives the person who wishes to take the substance the opportunity to know what is in the drug prior to consumption. As a community it is vital that we need to consider drug testing especially at Australian music festivals where …show more content…

While the patrons wait for their results it allows time for professionals to educate and inform the patron of the risks associated by taking drugs and alcohol enabling the patron to weigh out his or her risks of weather to take the drug or not. Matt Noffs of the Noffs Foundation who helped run the testing tweeted some statistics, revealing that 128 people had used the service and 85 samples were tested, with 2 samples revealed to be “deadly”. following the success of Australia's first attempt of pill testing at the Groovin the Moo festival held in Canberra over the weekend, Greens senator Jordon Steele-John told Junkee. “If we hadn’t have had this pill-testing trial at GTM over the weekend then it’s likely we would now be mourning the avoidable deaths of two young people who have ingested deadly substances.” Also according to to Megan Fitzharris. “There is no evidence that having pill testing available results in increased illicit drug

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