Drug testing at festivals will become permanent this year scandal 3 hours ago
Andrew Little has confirmed today that drug testing at music festivals will become a permanent operation.
The Health Minister confirmed the news after research has proven a change in behaviour with people who used the drug testing services.
The University of Victoria performed a study showing that 68% of festival attenedees changed their behaviour after having their drugs tested over the summer.
Little says,
It allows voluntary organisations like KnowYourStuff to test drugs at events like music festivals to verify they are what people think they are, without running foul of the law,
News 7 hours ago
Andrew Little has confirmed today that drug testing at music festivals will become a permanent operation.
The Health Minister confirmed the news after research has proven a change in behaviour with people who used the drug testing services.
The University of Victoria performed a study showing that 68% of festival attenedees changed their behaviour after having their drugs tested over the summer.
Little says,
It allows voluntary organisations like KnowYourStuff to test drugs at events like music festivals to verify they are what people think they are, without running foul of the law, The Drug Checking Act will expire in December, and experts are telling us it should be made permanent.
Source: New Zealand Government
Interim legislation that is already proving to keep people safer from drugs will be made permanent, Health Minister Andrew Little says.
Research by Victoria University, on behalf of the Ministry of Health, shows that the Government’s decision in December to make it legal for drug-checking services to operate at festivals over the summer is changing people’s behaviour.
“The Drug and Substance Checking Legislation Act 2020 – known as the Drug Checking Act – is already having an impact,” Andrew Little said.
“It allows voluntary organisations like KnowYourStuff to test drugs at events like music festivals to verify they are what people think they are, without running foul of the law.
Minister of Health
Interim
legislation that is already proving to keep people safer
from drugs will be made permanent, Health Minister Andrew
Little says.
Research by Victoria University, on
behalf of the Ministry of Health, shows that the
Government’s decision in December to make it legal for
drug-checking services to operate at festivals over the
summer is changing people’s behaviour.
“The Drug
and Substance Checking Legislation Act 2020 – known as the
Drug Checking Act – is already having an impact,” Andrew
Little said.
“It allows voluntary organisations like
KnowYourStuff to test drugs at events like music festivals
to verify they are what people think they are, without
Before the new law it existed in a legal gray area, with festival hosts technically liable for prosecution if they knowingly provide a venue for illicit drug use. No one had ever been prosecuted for this, but it has kept pill testing from becoming widespread because of the legal risk. Test results over the summer found a large amount of cathinones (or “bath salts”) that had been sold as MDMA.
Know Your Stuff
A supplied photo of cathinone eutylone found by drug testing service Know Your Stuff in place of MDMA. Health Minister Andrew Little said a bill was being prepared to make the law-change permanent, citing evidence for a Victoria University study which found 68 per cent of surveyed users of the service changed their behaviour.