Should pills be ALLOWED at music festivals? Doctor claims centres that test revellers’ drugs for purity will save more lives than trying to stop them altogether

– Emily Crane

Following the death of a 25-year-old woman from a suspected drug overdose in Sydney, drug expert Dr David Caldicott wants to start testing pills at music festivals.

A 22-year-old UK tourist was also hospitalised at the Stereosonic music festival and placed in an induced coma after taking drugs, while 70 other people were charged with drug-related offences.

Drug expert Dr David Caldicott, who works in the emergency department at Calvary Hospital in Canberra, wants to implement drug testing at festivals so people can forensically test illegal drugs before they take them.

‘Drug testing or pill checking involves taking a forensic laboratory to the point of consumption,’

‘It’s not so much the contaminants that we’re worried about, we’re worried about purity, we’re worried about the diversity of products.’ Dr. Caldicott told ABC’s 7.30.

He mentioned that pill testing worked at Europe’s largest rave in Zurich, which allowed people to test their drugs on-site and wait 20 minutes for their results.

A 22-year-old UK tourist was also hospitalised and placed in an induced coma after taking drugs at the festival, while 70 people were charged with drug-related offences

Dr. Caldicott says the frequently used, ‘don’t use drugs’ message was acceptable for primary school children or people who have never used drugs before.

‘But for this group of people, they’ve already decided to use drugs and we need to be far more nuanced in our approach to illicit drugs than we currently are,’ he said.

To find out more about drug testing in festivals and to read more on this article please click on the following link.

DailyMail