NSW Police to use sniffer dogs at pill-testing festivals

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Festival goers using NSW’s first pill testing service won’t be subjected to sniffer dog searches but that doesn’t apply to people on their way to have their substances checked.

Authorities warn taking drugs remains illegal and police have vowed to maintain a highly visible presence around the long-awaited trial site, insisting safety is the top priority.

Thousands of revellers on Saturday gained access to the harm reduction measure for the first time at The Yours and Owls music festival in Wollongong, headlined by US rapper Denzel Curry and UK band The Kooks.

NSW Police drug detection dogs are being used away from the testing facility despite known effects on risk-taking, a contrast to Victoria where police did not use sniffer dogs when the state rolled out its trial.

Police have agreed to stay away from the pill testing and medical precinct but not elsewhere around the festival grounds, according to NSW Health Minister Ryan Park.

He said police had a right to go about their operations as they saw fit and conceded the trial exposed “inherent contradictions” in drug policy but said something had to be done after a spate of fatal overdoses.

“If they’re waiting to come in [to the testing site], there’s still an opportunity for police to enforce the law and I haven’t pretended that that’s not the case,” Park said.

“None of us are going to pretend all of a sudden that this green-lights illicit drug use. It doesn’t,” he added.

Dozens of police had gathered at a mobile command unit outside the main gate early on Saturday.

Some 12 festivals will offer the service as part of a year-long, $1 million government-run pilot.

Greens MP Cate Faehrmann said there was a risk to people’s safety at music festivals when there was high-visibility policing, including drug sniffer dogs.

“If people are going to take drugs, we want them to do so as safely as possible and that is not what a highly visible police presence leads to,” Faehrmann told AAP.

Faehrmann said in a statement released late last year that the Coronial Inquest into Drug Deaths at Music Festivals “found that the presence of police with sniffer dogs caused the death of Alex Ross-King who panicked and took all of her pills at once”.

In 2019, Alexandra Ross-King, who was just 19 years old, died at a music festival in New South Wales after consuming three MDMA capsules and multiple alcoholic drinks.

A friend told her inquest that Ross-King had taken two capsules at the festival gates when she became nervous she might be caught by sniffer dogs.

Safety of festival goers was the top priority, Detective Acting Superintendent Glen Broadhead said.

“Police will be targeting antisocial behaviour and alcohol-fuelled violence and any behaviour that puts yourself or others at risk will not be tolerated,” he said.

“Prohibited drugs are illegal and potentially life-threatening, especially when combined with alcohol.

“We urge anyone who feels unwell or needs medical assistance to attend one of the medical tents on site.”

No police dogs at Vic festival but NSW undecided image

Inside the drug checking service, non-government peer workers have said they will present users with information on the health and safety issues associated with illicit drugs.

Up to six people at a time can have their drugs checked, with analysis taking about 10 minutes, followed by further discussion.

An amnesty bin is also available.

Some results can lead to broader warnings to attendees or feed into intelligence for peer workers and medical staff on the ground, the state’s chief health officer said.

Drug checking is available in at least 28 countries, according to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation.

Queensland’s new conservative government this week reiterated plans to shut down community drug checking services in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast.

In late 2023, drug detection dogs were an “an ineffective and inequitable strategy, which may carry health, social, and legal risks”.

“Consistent with previous research, those who expected to see police drug dogs at the festival described trying to hide their drugs well or taking their drugs before entering the festival,” researchers from the NDARC Burnet Institute, Flinders University’s Centre for Crime Policy and Research said.

“Both of these approaches to avoiding detection have been shown to increase the risk of overdose and other adverse events, a cause for considerable concern following the deaths of two men at a New South Wales music festival in October.”