TRACEY BENDINGER | Culture | Contact

The NSW governments most recent measure to minimise the harm of drug use at festivals has not only outraged proponents of pill testing, but it has actually had the reverse effect on one MDMA user who says he’s already got something that serves the same purpose as the Amnesty bins.

“Haha, yeah, it’s my mouth mate” says Niall Benchton

“Only difference is they’re not wasted in my mouth”

The Amnesty bins are being rolled out over the summer music festival season and are supposed to be a free pass for carrying drugs if you choose to throw out your drugs instead of swallowing them.

The amnesty bins were one of the smaller steps toward drug harm minimisation outlined in Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame’s report, the other more effective measures seemed to have been completely ignored.

But as Niall rightly points out, drug takers are nearly better off just taking the drugs that they’ve already paid for, instead of throwing them out in front of police, who say they’ve got a ‘no questions asked’ policy and will turn a blind eye to drug possession.

“Am I just sposed to trust that they won’t arrest me?”

“Lol”