Bonny Symons-Brown reported this story on Monday, January 4, 2016 18:30:00

TIM PALMER: Drug policy experts have criticised the New South Wales government's response to yet another drug overdose at a Sydney music festival.



Premier Mike Baird and Police Minister Troy Grant have warned festival organisers they'll be shut down if they don't do more to stop drug use at their events.



The warning comes after a 23-year-old woman was hospitalised after allegedly taking drugs at Field Day in Sydney on New Year's Day.



Bonny Symons-Brown reports.



BONNY SYMONS-BROWN: New South Wales Police Minister Troy Grant says music festival organisers aren't pulling their weight when it comes to cracking down on drugs.



TROY GRANT: I don't want to stop festivals; I just want to stop the deaths. We need the festival organisers to help us in that regard.



If they don't or won't or thumb their nose at their own duty of care, then that's when they'll write their own script and perhaps force the Government into taking hat decision out of their hands.



BONNY SYMONS-BROWN: Five people died of suspected drug overdoses at festivals across Australia last year, including four in New South Wales. It's prompted the State Government to declare "Enough is enough", with Premier Mike Baird threatening to deny event permits to organisers he says have not done the right thing.



Drug policy expert and emergency department doctor, Professor David Caldicott, says it's the wrong approach.



DAVID CALDICOTT: Music festivals are going to occur and they are either going to occur as organised by professional organisers or they're going to occur in an underground environment.



The former is far more preferable than the latter. To shut down music festivals will probably cause a spike in drug-related illnesses and death. I'm apprehensive every weekend and hoping that we're not going to see another death.



It is frustrating for people who work in this field who know that there is another approach.



BONNY SYMONS-BROWN: Professor Caldicott is an advocate of pill testing - allowing festival-goers to have their drugs checked in a mobile laboratory and told exactly what's in them.



DAVID CALDICOTT: The overwhelming majority of individuals who are advised that there's something other than what they anticipated in the drug, the overwhelming majority of that group of people actually do something other than take the drug which they've had tested.



And that's usually bin it or attempt to take half of it or do something different that modifies their behaviour and there's not a lot else that does that.



BONNY SYMONS-BROWN: New South Wales Police Minister Troy Grant admits "Just say no" messages aren't getting through, and he believes in educating people about what exactly they're taking.



But drug testing at festivals is just not an option, he says.



TROY GRANT: We're not going to set up a regime test to for something that's illegal to see if it's safe to ingest or not. We're not going to condone illegal drug-taking, full stop.



BONNY SYMONS-BROWN: One hurdle to implementing pill testing often cited by governments and police is the legal challenges around allowing people to possess illicit drugs and not arresting them.



Professor Caldicott says it's a feeble argument.



DAVID CALDICOTT: There are plenty of precedents within this space. For example, if you look at the needle syringe programs, if you look at the injecting rooms in New South Wales. It really is a matter of how you want to police this issue.



BONNY SYMONS-BROWN: Dr Marianne Jauncey is the director of Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Kings Cross.



It's the only facility of its kind in Australia and shows how successful harm-minimisation strategies can be. There's never been a fatal overdose on its premises or at any medically-supervised injecting centre anywhere.



MARIANNE JAUNCEY: We live in the real world, not the world as we might wish it be and so while for some people prevention is the best option and works really well, for others, it doesn’t work.



BONNY SYMONS-BROWN: And research shows young people do want to know what they're taking. Data from the Australian National Council on Drugs shows more than 82 per cent of surveyed 16-to-25-year-olds supported the introduction of pill testing at festivals.



MARIANNE JAUNCEY: Allowing pills to be tested is not going to lead to a flood of people suddenly deciding to take drugs for the first time. There's no evidence to suggest that.



BONNY SYMONS-BROWN: Professor David Caldicott says he stands ready to roll out a pill testing trial as soon as he gets the green light from authorities.



TIM PALMER: Bonny Symons-Brown reporting.