So what are everyone's thoughts on the whole pill testing debate?
The way I see it, pill testing is akin to being half pregnant. You can't have something be legal, but essentially make provisions to allow it.
However, I have a solution.
Ban rave music.
Clearly any music that is so shit, that you have to be completely off your face to enjoy it is worth is a menace to society. Get rid of it, and you not only stop driving people towards drugs, you solve the simultaneous problem of the noise pollutions that stems from duff duff music pumping out of cars at ridiculous volumes. There must be enormous public health benefits in that alone.
Problem solved.
I'm 1Eyed Eel, solving all the world's tough problems. You're welcome.
Replies
Phil I could not agree more with you .the man that is promoting the idea of pill testing apparently lost his son to drugs and I feel very sorry that it happened to him and his family but his son had a choice and he took the wrong one the same as anybody that takes drugs .as you say drugs are illegal if you are stupid enough to take them then be prepared to pay the consequences.and before anybody’s says unless you have been affected in some way by drugs my family and I have but luckily our situation had a favourable outcome.but getting back to the actual pill testing how many do you think would go to the tent or what ever to get there stuff tested .and if they did the police wounld not be doing their job if arrests weren’t made as you said Phil drugs are illegal
Agree, I honestly can't see the logisitics of it. If you're of a mind to take the risk of popping these pills, is anyone seriously going to line up to get their pills checked.
The main people I would see who would use it, would be the people who are on the fence of whether they should do it or not. And giving them the green light that is safe, is going to push those who might have otherwise been more cautious the ok to go and do it.
Why not get serious about catching the dealers & put them away for a very long time. It seems the penalties handed out are for too soft so the dealers just keep on dealing. They earn a fortune out of selling the crap then get a slap across the back of the hand. Now they want to test their product to make sure it's safe. IT"S NOT, that's why people are dying. Build a massive jail out in the sticks somewhere & send them all for a long stay far away from family & friends. Make their life HELL & see who wants to get into selling it knowing there is a good chance they will be locked up for a long time.
Agree totally their coach .plus if people would only wake up to them selfs and not take the crap .but we all know that won’t happen
I think in all these cases where people do the wrong thing occasioning death, these crimes have to be treated as, at least manslaughter. I personally think they should be considered full-blown murder because there is no accident about it. They're very deliberately making the decision to sell something that they should know could kill someone.
Agree
The other thing I don't understand - it looks like you can buy quite inexpensive personal pill testing kits.
https://testkitplus.com/
So if these things are quite accessible, and you need these to get you through a rave, how is it so difficult to buy your bills before-hand, test them yourself and away you go.
I have no issue with pill testing. They tried it last year at Grooving the Moo in Canberra and it worked. It's clear that trying more and more punitive measures isn't working. People will take drugs regardless.
It's about trying to prevent people dying.
Now you can say, well just don't take drugs. But we've been saying that for decades and people are still taking them.
Where are you in the injecting rooms Phil? There have been 1 million people through the Kings Cross room with no deaths. I don't see anyone campaigning to close it down.
Now sure, target dealers and suppliers as much as you want. But pill testing is about more than just taking drugs. It's a way to prevent deaths as well as get front line contact with users.
Advocating for harsher penalties and the like is out of touch and isn't working. There's evidence from Europe that pill testing saves lives. Like I said, Grooving the Moo showed people would get their pills tested if those facilities were available.
No one goes to a festival trying to kill themselves. We have a way to try and prevent that, so why not try it? Because at the moment people are dying and the government is sitting on its hands.
Elliott, that is absolutely no proof to say that the Canberra trial "worked".
Nobody died at the FIeld Day event, does that mean increased police presences worked. You can't say something work because something that could have happened, didn't happen.
Injection Rooms are different. These people are addicts. Pill poppers aren't addicts, they're just doing it recreationally.
Quite frankly, if you die willingly doing something dangerous, you deserve to die. I have zero sympathy for people who do something they know is dangerous, and surprise, surprise, they die.
I'm not asking for people to can-test my energy drinks, am I? I know it's doing bad shit to my body, but I still do it, and I'm prepared to wear whatever consequences arise for that. I don't want to be protected.
As I said, I can't see how pill testing doesn't do anything but help more people experiment with drugs. To be quite honest, if on the ocassions where I've had the opportunity to do these kinds of drugs, if I'd have had pill testing, I'd probably have done it. I haven't because I know one bad pill and you're fucked, so that danger factor is really a very valuable preventative measure to stop people doing something that has bad social consequences. That's why you don't try it, because it can cause more harm than good.
Pill testing isn't about greenlighting drug use necessarily. It's about providing a way to try and reduce the risks associated.
Now just telling people not to do something doesn't always work. People are going to take drugs. It's a fact. And at the moment we're not really doing anything about it other than threatening people with harsher punishments. Which aren't really working.
Those home kits you suggested? They're often inaccurate, providing false positives and negatives.
Pill testing is more than just testing pills at festivals. It can be used to gather important information on drugs use, act as a way to better educate the community while also acting as a warning system if a bad batch of drugs are detected.
How can we take an evidence based approach if we're unwilling to try pill testing? The arguments against seem one of three things. Black and white, idealistic or purely out of touch. But none of them can cite research saying pill testing does harm to the community.
The EMCDDA commissioned a report on pill testing in 2017. It's up to you guys to read it. But it provides a good amount of information on how and why the pill test in Europe.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=ht...
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