Groovin’ the Moo is done and dusted for another year and, once again, the festival’s pill testing trial has been hailed a huge success. Take that, pollies.
It’s the second time the festival has carried out the controversial trial, with 230 festival-goers using the service, and 171 substances tested – more than double last year’s tests, the ABC reports.
This year, GTM called in the big guns, including two testing machines – one, a US-import used in counter-terrorism efforts – 35 professionals, and more volunteers.
A first look at the 2019 pill testing set up at Groovin the Moo #Canberra @9NewsSyd pic.twitter.com/boYsOJvuTg
— Elle Conway (@elle_conway) April 27, 2019
Of the hundreds of tests, seven people were found to have pills containing a “potentially deadly substance” (a substance called n-ethylentylone) and, as a result, all seven were willingly tossed. Yay for good choices!
The most common drugs tested and identified were MDMA, cocaine, ketamine, and methamphetamine. And, to the testing team’s surprise, many substances showed high levels of purity which, when passed on to patrons, changed how much or whether they would take the drug at all.
Would you look at that? Festival-goers making an informed choice about drug use. Who would’ve thought? Go off pill testing!
In spite of heavy lobbying around the country, Canberra is still the only jurisdiction that allows pill testing (cheers, Gladys). This was the last run of Pill Testing Australia’s free trials in the capital, but I think it’s safe to say the trials have done everything they need to do to prove that pill testing is the best bet to keep festivals and festival-goers safe.
Our second #pilltesting trial in Canberra was an overwhelming success with over 171 samples tested and 7 dangerous substances identified. All used the amnesty bin to discard these drugs. We have published our full media release here: #harmreductionhttps://t.co/yEzfcc1JtO pic.twitter.com/dYaWpYJUJm
— Pill Testing Australia (@pilltestingaus) April 28, 2019
Pill testing is not about giving the green light on drug use (and drug abuse), no matter what Gladys and the rest of the pollies say. It’s about giving consumers (you) the information to make smart choices if and when considering taking drugs. That’s it.
The only tragedy that comes from pill testing is the heartbreak when a test comes back, as it did this year, showing some poor sucker’s been scammed for an overpriced Eclipse mint.
Be smart, folks.
Images: Twitter (@groovinthemoo)
