From FOMO 2019 held on January 12th at Paramatta Park, which I attended and was told a 19 year old Alex Ross King was being rushed to Westmead Hospital where she later passed away, I have meticulously read and blogged each and every article published on this topic. I have followed with utmost care the Coroners Inquest into Drugs at Music Festivals. in fact I have read and blogged 826 Articles to Date the 19th of Nov 2019.
The Debate is raging, with the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and NSW Police Commissioner Mic Fuller arguing that Drugs are Illegal and heavy policing and sniffer dogs are required at Music festivals to put an end to this.
On the other side of the debate are people arguing that the tough stance is not working and saying "No to Drugs" is not working and anything and everything that can save a life has to be done, including Pill Testing Facilty at the festivals.
Who is Right and who is wrong here, is the question.
"Damned if you Do and Damned if you Don't" is the current stale mate
Let us look at some facts and statistics that have become available:-
- A recent Australian study found that up to 75 per cent of festival patrons will use illicit drugs. Of this number, 60 per cent will use MDMA, methylene dioxy methamphetamine, sometimes called “Molly”.
- There are as many as 3500 drug related deaths in Australia, which is on an average 10 deaths a day Nation wide and there were six deaths at Music festivals in 2018-2019 Music Festival Season.
As Parents no one wants their beautiful babies to take drugs and if they do take drugs, no parent wants their children Dead.
As for the Elected Premier Gladys Berejiklian, she believes she has been elected by the people to serve the people as she sees it fit. Agreed but her job as Premier is to listen to all opinions and both sides of the debate and decide what is best to address the Problem as any Leader should do. Unfortunately she is not guided by expert opinions but by her own Religius beliefs and Convictions Drugs are illegal So they have to be banned and violators should be caught and jailed.
Lets us look at Cannabis and Opioids Usage:
In Countries like India with over a billion people and like the cold mountains of Afghanistan people smoke Ganja to survive cold winters.
These people smoking ganjas are not arrested and thrown into jails and as Ganja is not illegal it has not much value either.
Opium: (Wiki)
The Mediterranean region contains the earliest archeological evidence of human use; the oldest known seeds date back to more than 5000 BCE in the Neolithic age[9] with purposes such as food, anaesthetics, and ritual. Evidence from ancient Greece indicates that opium was consumed in several ways, including inhalation of vapors, suppositories, medical poultices, and as a combination with hemlock for suicide.[10] The Sumerian, Assyrian, Egyptian, Indian, Minoan, Greek, Roman, Persian and Arab Empires all made widespread use of opium, which was the most potent form of pain relief then available, allowing ancient surgeons to perform prolonged surgical procedures.[citation needed]
Opium is mentioned in the most important medical texts of the ancient world, including the Ebers Papyrus and the writings of Dioscorides, Galen, and Avicenna. Widespread medical use of unprocessed opium continued through the American Civil War before giving way to morphine and its successors, which could be injected at a precisely controlled dosage.
Opium has been actively collected since prehistoric times, since approximately 3400 BCE.[11] The upper Asian belt of Afghanistan, Pakistan, northern India, and Burma still account for the world's largest supply of opium.
Opium and Ganja became a Problem to the world when western capitalistic countries realised there was money to be made out of cannabis and Opium. And the Problems the world faces to day is that these substances are banned and this is creating a golden opportunity for Drug smuggles to capitalise on the markets where they are illegal.
Australia is the DUMPING GROUND for MDMA made all over Asia especially Thailand. Big money to be made quickly and every ,man and his dog is into the game.
IDEAL SOLUTION:
De Criminalise Drugs
An ideal solutions would be, to decriminalise Cannabis and MDMA. If it is OK to smoke Tobacco and drink wine and alcohol, no harm in allowing people to smoke cannabis or take MDMA pills.
An ideal solutions would be, to decriminalise Cannabis and MDMA. If it is OK to smoke Tobacco and drink wine and alcohol, no harm in allowing people to smoke cannabis or take MDMA pills.
This will never happen in Australia as even though Religion has no place in Governance, it will always be there and we need philosophers like EX PM Gough Whitlam to usher such changes. He was a natural born leader and visionary and we cannot expects Scott Morrison or Gladys Berejikilian to reach such standards as both were elected by default with Labour Party shooting themselves in the foot. Cannot see either of them getting re-elected to govern.
Since decriminalisations is only an ideal solution but will never happen in Australia, let us look at what can be done to address the problem and minimise drug related deaths.
How about Govt producing and supplying MDMA Pills with all the necessary health warnings: I can see hundreds of benefits.
- The Black Market will disappear over night. Kids will not buy illegal drugs from back yard operators. Our Children are not stupid and remember these very children will grow up and rule the country. just like we did.
- Kids who take drugs can still be safe and stay alive
- Police will be freed of the head ache of chasing illegal drug manufacturers and importers.
- And the poor sniffer dogs can go and have a play
- Hospital Emergencies will be freed of the head ache of treating drug overdoses and focus on other ailing patients battling heart lung diseases and cancer.
- and imagine how Happy our Paramedics will be to be relieved of Drug Overdose case.
But then I cannot see this happening either with our Politicians Playing God.
Parents:
What can Parents do to stop kids taking drugs ?
Not much really. We live in a society where Political Correctness thrives. Parents can hardly manage their Primary school kids and like it or now teenagers are indulging in sex irrespective of what the parents tell them. If pregnancy does not deter boys and girls from having sex they are not going to bother about what parents say about DRUGs. Plus Current Generation pf Parents with teenage kids have all dabbled in drugs and cannabis themselves. Add to this the weak relationships betwen parents and children in broken marriages where both parents lose control f their children who feel unwanted and unloved.
Does not matter what the parents ell them or teach them teenagers have a mind of their own and most will succumb to drug taking. This explains why as much as 75% of Party Goers take drugs at Music festivals.
Why Music Festivals:
Imagine taking drugs getting high and screaming at home. Does not work. Kids need a rave Music Festival to let heir hair down shed most clothes and blow their heads off with alcohol and drugs. When they go high on a trip they need company to celebrate.
DRUG TESTING
Hundreds if not thousands of Articles on Drug Testing.
I agree with the argument that testing Drugs at Music Festivals sends the wrong message that it is Ok to take drugs so just test it and be careful.
Does Drug Testing Save Lives:
Drug testing may save the lives of those kids who have their drugs tested and discard them if warned that they are dangerous.
I am not sure if Testing people approve a drug as safe that it is not going to kill some one. The fact that youngsters believe the drugs are safe means they will indulge more and consume much higher doses.
The argument that if it saves one life, then the effort is worth it.
What happens when a drug testing facility is made available at every festival. Does this guarantee there will be no fatalities ?I do not think so.
Over Policing and Sniffer Dogs at Music Festivals:
Children in General are Scared of Police and to me the teenagers attending music festivals are still children even though mosy might be over 18 that legally makes them adults.
I have a Labrador at home and trust me the first thing a dog does when a stranger comes home is to sniff the crotch.
Why do dogs sniff people's privates?
Because apocrine glands are scent glands, their secretions usually have an odor. Dogs are certainly interested in the pot-pourri of odors emanating from this area. Dogs are therefore attracted to sniffing private areas in humans just as they are attracted to sniffing dog butts and their genital regions
So when there are 20 thousand kids sweating it out at a Music festival in sweltering heat one can rest assured all their genitals are smelling. You do not have to be a socrates to figure this out or a Sherlock holmes.
Sniffer Police dogs may be trained to sniff dugs that does not mean they cannot smell the human crotch.
This would explain why strip searches based on sniffer dogs smelling peoples privates has not resulted in large drug finds.
Some of the kids are shit scared of dogs and shit themselves when the sniffer dog even walks towards them. I am of the opinion allowing sniffer dogs inside music festivals is a Big Crime in itself violating peoples rights to privacy and protection from baseless harassments.
Asan analogy imagine allowing sniffer dogs to walk into the parliament hose when it is in session. Will the police then strip search the MP the sniffer dogs chooses to sniff ? In humane practice, to say the least.
Policemen are also men and can pick and choose the girl they want to see naked. Oh Yes only female police officers examine girls .. what if these female officers are lesbians ? What if in these examination cells some one has fixed a cop camera to relay the video live ? All it takes is a $50 spy camera that can capture the full strip search of an innocent kid who is unaware that the search is being videoed. This definitely happens at international airports where passengers are strip searched.
How many politicians will allow the police to strip search them or their children on suspicion ? I bet no one will agree. Then does the same rule not apply to Australian Citizens who elect these politicians ? Are they a law unto themselves or above the law ?
Dear Premiere Gladys Berejiklian, You are very correct in saying that drug testing sends the wrong message that it is OK to take drugs when it is not and there is no guarantee that drug testing wull save lives.
But then Premiere Heavy Police Presence and sniffer dogs and intimidation were directly responsible for Alex Ross King panicking on seeing cops and dogs and swallowing all the pills she had bought all in one go. But for police presence Alex would still be with us.
How to make Pill Testing work:
Every day we read news about police apprehending drug suppliers and arresting them and confiscating the drugs etc.
What Police can do is test samples of these confiscated drugs not by simple scratching but a thorough test in an authorised chemical lab, photograph them and publish details of the drug and its photo and the area where it was manufactured and where it was confiscated etc etc so who ever got the tablets possibly from this particular source can find out the risks involved in consuming these pills Most pills have colour code as well as a logo stamped into them, as seen in most of the news articles,
DECRIMINALISATION OF DRUGS:
If this ever happens, I am not holding my breath, of it happens then each and every suburb can have one fixed pill testing station, could be a Local Pharmacy and even hospital emergencies should have the facility.
It is upto the politicians to keep playing politics or serve the community that voted for them.
Common Sense Approach to address Drugs at Music Venues
Considering the debate is a stalemate with no winners, why not take a common sense approach to addressing the problem of drugs at Music Festivals.
If I was incharge I would take the following steps to minimise drug related deaths at Music Festivals:
- As a first step, I will make the music festival organisers install HD CCTV Cameras at the venue a week before the event and provide adequate lighting to the venue. The idea here is to make sure Drug pushers will not come and hide drugs at the venue well before the event and then come to the festival empty handed and go about selling the drugs at the venue.
- Once the camera is installed the venue should be guarded by police 24/7 until the event day. Sat ten policemen. Definitely not private security guards as they may compromise the situation.
- Double the security of the venue to 20 policemen on the day of the event. Police should be stationed only outside the perimeter of the venue and not inside.
- As the entry to the venue starts and gates are thrown open. have as many policemen, women and sniffer dogs outside the venue to check every ticket holder the way they see fit.
- As for sniffer dogs if one sniffer dogs goes after a person then bring another sniffer dog for a second opinion and do a strip search only if two dogs point out a person. Dogs are dogs and they can make mistakes too.
- Now having a Pill Testing Booth at the Music festival is not a very intelligent idea. If I wanted to take a few pills at a rave music party I definitely would not walk up to a pill testing booth and have my two pills tested, especially when the place is swarming with police and sniffer dogs.
- One has to be an Oxymoron to have a pill tested at the Music festival, assuming the pill will have the same-differences plus I have to act-naturally as the experience is amazingly-awful & Bitter-sweet, not appear to be clearly-confused, especially at night in the dark-light as testing the pill is the only-choice as my taking pills is an Open-Secret now to me feeling like the walking-dead. Asking kids to test illegal drugs at the music festival is not going to work towards saving lives. Period.
- Once the music starts, Please leave the kids alone. There should be no police inside the venue. Afterall the police have monitored the venue and have had ample time to check out every one attending the festival
- Just a small police force of say ten police men and ten security guards should be inside the venue to stop brawls etc. The kids have to TRUST the police which they do not now.
- Dont Kill the Music Please. Music is Devine and Music is for the body and soul.
