00:0012 years ago, Adriana Buccianti lived every parent's worst nightmare.
00:06Epping Police came to tell me he was never going home again.
00:10Daniel was 34. He died after taking drugs at a festival. Ever since, she's demanded
00:15pill testing.
00:16If you have a service where they test it and they say, this will kill you, I can tell you
00:22nobody wants to come out of a nightclub or a festival in a body bag.
00:26It will soon be a reality.
00:28It does not make drugs legal and it does not make drugs safe. But it does mean we are going
00:34to give young people the information they need.
00:37A surge in overdoses, along with testing success internationally and in other states, has prompted
00:42action in Victoria. Mobile units will attend 10 festivals this summer before a fixed site
00:47is set up in the inner city next year.
00:50So why wouldn't we use this health-based approach, this evidence-based approach? Because if it
00:54has the potential to save just one life, then it's absolutely been worth it.
00:59The free service will cost $4 million and comes with expert and multi-party support.
01:05And so these services are about creating a non-judgmental space in which people can get
01:10access to information, which supports them to make better choices.
01:14If someone's got money to buy expensive festival tickets and expensive drugs, why should taxpayers
01:20be picking up the tab on quality control?
01:23The Police Association has big concerns. It says pill testing is not the panacea of
01:27illicit drug use and undermines their efforts. It also wants the government to explain how
01:32police are meant to enforce the law at festivals and other key events.
01:37We need to see the end to the tough on drugs, war on drugs kind of policing that we've historically
01:41seen around drug use.
01:43The opposition say it will stop pill testing should it win office.
01:47This is giving a green light to young people to say it's okay to take these pills.
01:52There's still a lot of work to be done. I think this is a step in the right direction.
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