These are just a handful of the cold and callous comments that have flooded social media in recent weeks, in response to several drug deaths at music festivals across Australia. If we do manage to survive this summer without a single drug death at NSW music festivals, it won’t be because of the threatening wall of blue uniforms curtaining every single entrance. Festivals can become overwhelming. One hotly debated strategy has been the use of drug detection dogs which currently operate at festivals across Australia, despite claims they are ineffective and contribute to risky drug use practices. The evidence came on the second day of a two-week inquest into the deaths of six Australians from drug overdoses at various NSW music festivals over a one-year period. Demographic profiles: Who is going to Australian music festivals? There are currently no new plans to introduce pill-testing measures at future events. He was forcefully restrained while paramedics assessed his condition. They were well educated, with 42.8% having completed year 12 schooling Drug use at music festivals has become a public safety concern in NSW, one that has led to a number of deaths in recent years. Drug safety advocates are lobbying hard for pill testing services to be put in place at Australia music festivals. Introduction Drug use at music festivals has become a public safety concern in NSW, one that has led to a number of fatalities in recent years. It won’t be because of any expensive ‘safety management plan’ filed in haste and rejected arbitrarily. Drug Induced Deaths in Australia: A changing story Harmful drug use continues to be a serious public health issue in Australia with 1,808 drug induced deaths registered in 2016. But the existing evidence suggests that they can make a significant contribution to reducing drug-related harm associated with these events. It is also common sense that the attendees of music festivals do not wish to die or get injured, but that the deaths that caused this public policy issue to arise were accidental deaths. For further information on keeping safe at music festivals or for more information about drugs and alcohol, visit YourRoom to get the facts. At least some of those deaths … The majority of attendees of music festivals are not drug dealers. To do this political support is needed. These proposed legislative changes come in response to a number of drug-related incidents occurring within Australian festivals. Two other revellers who attended the festival were also taken to hospital in a critical condition. Background: Recent drug-related deaths at Australian music festivals have led to increasing concern about the risk of future harm, but contention about how to effectively respond. Six people have died as a result of drug overdoses during the Australian festival season. Related. At least two more deaths will be examined at an upcoming inquest into several suspected drug-related fatalities at NSW music festivals. If you're feeling distressed or anxious, tell a trusted friend how you feel and move away from loud music. Design and Method: This project had two key components. … In January this year, Alex Ross-King attended the FOMO Festival in Sydney's west and died after taking three ecstasy tablets.She was only 19. According to one of the guards who testified at a coronial inquest currently being held into six drug-related deaths at New South Wales music festivals between late 2017 and early 2019, Nathan then became “agitated” and “started lashing out with his hands”. The most recent statistics available from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that emergency room visits due to the drug had increased by 128 percent between 2005 and 2011. Dushan Hanuska/Flickr , CC BY-NC-SA An unprincipled approach Find a calm place to chill out and seek help if you need it. music festivals overdose pill testing. Continue reading music festivals People who frequent music festivals in Australia report higher levels of illicit drug use than those of the general population. Following several drug-related deaths in recent months at music festivals in Australia, policymakers in New South Wales are debating the topic of pill testing. Picture: AAP/Peter Rae . New illicit drug campaign ahead of NSW music festivals. The NSW Deputy State Coroner has handed down her findings and recommendations with regard to the deaths of six young people at music festivals between December 2017 and January 2019. Drug checking services at music festivals will never be a silver bullet for all drug related harm and deaths associated with music festivals. The War on Music (NSW, Australia) (also known as "The War on Festivals") is a phrase coined by Australian media to refer to the implementation of new laws by the New South Wales (NSW) Government with regards to the use of illicit drugs at concerts and music festivals. It will be sheer luck, and it will happen despite the Music Festivals Bill 2019, not because of it. Pill testing, no more sniffer dogs and fewer strip searches are some of the ways the NSW coroner says will reduce drug deaths at music festivals. Two deaths at the DEFQON.1 music festival led the NSW government to rush through the new crime of ‘drug supply causing death’. Defqon festival organiser Simon Coffey spoke at the inquest into the suspected drug-related deaths of six young people after NSW music festivals over two years. OUR RECOMENDATION To improve drug and alcohol safety at music festivals DKLM, recommends: - Disallowance of the Music Festival Laws. Hardline approach to pill testing ‘failing’ to save lives . Deaths at music festivals and hospitalizations due to molly and other music festival drugs have continued to occur despite growing awareness of the dangers these events present. Another drug-related music festival death But, as the summer season of music festivals kicked off with Strawberry Fields this weekend, one life has already been lost to a suspected overdose . ‘Drug use at music festivals’ Recovery.org, 2017 ‘Drug Facts: Amphetamines’ Alcohol and Drug Foundation, 2018 ‘Drug Facts: Ecstasy’ Alcohol and Drug Foundation, 2018; Makkai T, Macleod M, Vumbaca G, Hill P, Caldicott D, Noffs M, Tzanetis S, Hansen F, Report on Canberra GTM Harm Reduction Service, Harm Reduction Australia, 2018. The NSW Coroners Court on Tuesday heard the deaths of Anne Nguyen and Hoang Tran - who was known to his family as Nathan - will be included in the inquest which is expected to begin at the Lidcombe court in July. As part of a trial, 13 people found with prohibited drugs were dealt with by way of a drug criminal infringement notices and fined up to $400. As outlined in Table 1, the majority of Australian music festival attendees sampled through the GDS2019 (n=5,155) were young (with a mean age of 22.39), male (54.8%), heterosexual (76%) and white (86.5%). Some believe "drug checking" stations, which test drugs for harmful substances, set up outside festivals could help curb the deaths. Updated Updated 15/01/2019 Share We should expand and evaluate this intervention. New South Wales 8:23am Jan 29, 2019 NSW pressures music festivals after drug deaths Taxpayers forked out approximately $500,000 on safety measures at the past weekend’s music festivals. This project seeks to provide the first comprehensive assessment of the deterrent effects of street-level Australian drug law enforcement at two common settings of policing (outdoor music festivals and licensed entertainment precincts). Victorian man dies at music festival, another hospitalised after drug overdoses By Ashleigh McMillan , Rachel Wells and Tate Papworth Updated December 1, 2019 — 1.55pm first published at 10.26am Drug use at music festivals by Tom Gotsis 1. With health figures showing that up to 90 per cent of revellers at dance festivals will take drugs, Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame is looking for answers on how to stop the death toll. by Paul Gregoire December 15, 2015, 4:05pm Of those people, 25% had used illicit drugs in the previous month. An explanation of the recent deaths of five young people at Australian music festivals which will be examined by the NSW coroner. Her comments have been widely reported in particular her recommendations to introduce pill testing and to decriminalise personal possession and use of currently prohibited drugs. A 2011 survey of festival goers found that at least 52% had used illicit drugs once or more. 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