Page 277 - Week 01 - Thursday, 14 February 2019
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The problem with that is that people are then going away and taking potentially a high quantity of drugs and that it is the MDMA that is killing people in many cases. I refer back to Anna Woods, the 15-year-old who died about 20 years ago. That is why her father is opposed to pill testing. Even if your pill is tested, we see that 97 per cent of people are off taking those pills with a high purity of MDMA, and it is killing them.
As Andrew Leibie, the toxicologist said, statements by politicians that pill testing would help “keep people safe” were potentially misleading and that pill testing “is based on the false assumption that if you do know what you are taking, it is safe—something that is absolutely untrue. MDMA is not a safe drug.”
The state Health Commander of Ambulance Victoria said about drug testing, “It is a poison. You can test a poison all you like; it remains a poison.” One of Australia’s leading toxicologists, Dr John Lewis, has said, “It will not work and it is fraught with dangers.” The Internal Medicine Journal said in November 2016, “Pill testing at best gave an artificial ‘shine of safety’”.
The problem is that when you have pill testing with 97 per cent of people taking high purity pills, and the government and police sanctioning this, you send a very dangerous message. Indeed, after Groovin the Moo in Canberra the ABC went to Bendigo and spoke to some young people at the Bendigo festival. What did these young people say? I will quote what they said: “The fact that they can test it and make sure that you are going to be safe is definitely a good thing.”
Another festival goer said, “It could make you want to take more drugs. It would definitely give you peace of mind.” And that is the problem. Pill testing is out there giving young people peace of mind, in their own words. They are saying that it will make you want to take more drugs. In their words, they are saying that it is safe and that that is a good thing, when it is not, because what we know is that 97 per cent of people at Groovin the Moo with high purity drugs took them anyway. What we know is that MDMA in many cases is what has been killing young people, not what it has been mixed with.
We have looked at the evidence. We have listened to the experts. We have looked at the advice. We have looked at the research. We have done our homework. Let us make sure when we move forward that people are not out there trying to take advantage of a situation when we want to keep people safe and are not using this as some sort of quasi-political campaign to attract people by saying, “Let’s join the party.”
MS CODY (Murrumbidgee) (3.48): I would like to thank Mr Pettersson for bringing this MPI forward and for his work as a champion of harm minimisation. Whilst Mr Pettersson’s current proposal for drug law reform is getting headlines across Australia and the world, and his growing legion of fans are producing the dankest memes, it is important that other areas of harm minimisation are highlighted in this debate.
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