Labor conference votes for pill-testing at Spilt Milk festival

There’s been one more step towards testing drugs for dangerous substances belonging to attendees at this year’s Spilt Milk festival in Canberra.

Over the weekend’s Labor Party ACT’s conference, a motion to consider it for 2017 was passed unanimously.

This is the latest initiative this year. In early 2017, the ACT Government sent out signals that it was open to tests.

Last month it was reported it was quietly having talks with relevant parties about their introduction.

The Greens ACT have also kept the heat on: in March, it set up a petition at keepcanberrasafe.org.au.

Drug advocates also threatened to undertake testing at the festival themselves, putting themselves and the festival promoter at risk of being arrested for possessing illegal drugs.

Held on November 25, Spilt Milk traditionally draws 20,000 music fans. Lorde is headlining this year.

The Canberra Times reported that ACT Young Labor member Briony Roelands put forward the weekend’s motion.

She argued, "Quite simply, drug policy in the ACT is failing young people. Drug policy must be focused on harm minimisation and evidence not draconian and outdated practices which put users at risk.

"Festivalgoers have and will continue to become gravely ill or possibly die from botched pills.”

She also made the point that sniffer dogs at festivals panicked people into swallowing their stash whole, causing severe medical issues.

A test in Austria also showed that two thirds of the people who found their drugs contained toxic substances abandoned them, while half claimed they swore off drugs.

Dr Lynn Magor-Blatch, Executive Officer at the Australasian Therapeutic Communities Association and professor at the University of Wollongong said research substantiated such claims.

"People want to stay alive,” she emphasised. “If drugs are bad they will chuck them out and don’t go on and then find something else."