Drugs !

Gladys  Berejiklian is a strong minded premier running Australia's most populous state.  It was so evident that her policy on combatting drugs at music festivals was a failure that it was scrapped by the state's upper house last month. We are back at the drawing board to chart a new approach and a leaked report from the coroner has urged the premier to reconsider pill testing and discontinue the use of sniffer dogs and strip searches.

Recreational drugs are a world problem.  When thousands of young people gather for a music festival research shows that the greater majority have the intention of achieving a " high " to compliment the effect of the music and this will be achieved by taking a drug stimulant.  They know this is illegal - and dangerous - but they will persist even if the outcome is death.

The reason this is dangerous is because we have made these sorts of drug stimulants illegal and this encourages a vast industry of often incompetent drug " cooks " to create their version of legitimate mood enhancing drugs.  Their ambition is to make money and the end result is often something lethal circulating amongst the crowd.

Drug profits are so high that the flow of drugs into the country is unstoppable.  We regularly see drug busts where merchandise worth millions are seized, but the sale of drugs remains unchanged on city streets.  Even in country's where the death penalty applies for drug possession, both the suppliers and the users take that risk.  The only difference is the price rises because of that elevated risk factor.

One of the outstanding things about deaths at music festivals is not the small number of deaths but the vast number who took drugs - and survived.  That begs the question of whether our drug illegality laws are rational considering the illegal trade has no control on drug strength.  We need to ask ourselves if this insistence in taking a mood stimulant to enhance the enjoyment of music should have a legal foundation ?   Should a substance of safe purity to be legally available to meet that need ?

That raises the question of Marijuana.  Would the legalizing of Marijuana solve the problem of drugs at music festivals  ?  Illegal drugs are small capsules smuggled in and taken in secret.  If Marijuana was legal it could be openly smoked - and it is not a substance that can produce an overdose.  It would deliver an enhanced safety factor.

Our politicians are very edgy on drug issues.    They fear being branded " soft " on drugs and yet a vast percentage of each electorate are young people using drugs at music festivals.  When demand remains strong for drugs, supply will inevitably follow and nowhere in the world have the authorities managed to stop the drug flow.

It is time for a new approach. Just following the same old failed regimen will solve nothing.  If a mood stimulant is something the public demand at music festivals we would be wise to make sure supply follows the safety guidelines.  Laws that run headlong against public opinion are doomed to fail.