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Stuart Nash defends push for drug testing kits at music festivals

Author
Newstalk ZB, NZ Herald ,
Publish Date
Wed, 23 Jan 2019, 10:05AM
Police Minister Stuart Nash wants to see all New Zealand music festivals kitted out with drug testing kits by next summer. Photo / Getty Images

Stuart Nash defends push for drug testing kits at music festivals

Author
Newstalk ZB, NZ Herald ,
Publish Date
Wed, 23 Jan 2019, 10:05AM

Police Minister Stuart Nash is defending his push for drug testing kits at all New Zealand music festivals, saying he's "not soft on drugs".

The Police Minister made the comment during his regular Politics Wednesday segment, which sees National MP Mark Mitchell and Stuart Nash discuss the week's top political news.

Speaking with Mike Hosking, Nash said it's not about being soft on drugs, it's about young people's safety.

"Part of our organised crime plan is 700 of these new 1800 police officers are going to go after the gangs and the people that are manufacturing and supplying."

"But, I'm all for drug testing at music festivals. We could bury our head in the sand and say, 'young people don't take drugs at festivals' but we know that's not true."

"We have had five young people die in Australia, five people taking drugs that they didn't know what was in them, my view is, let's deal with the 21st-century reality."

He said music festival organisers need to take a very responsible attitude to drugs and alcohol.

"They had a process if they found a person with one or two E [ecsatay tablets]...if they found someone with enough drugs to be deemed a supplier then it was straight to police."

However, National MP Mark Mitchell says this isn't the right approach.

"Yes, trying to deal with organised crime is tough, that's hard but you don't just throw your hands up...say we've lost it so we are going throw our hands up, we are going to decriminalise and legalise."

The Police Minister denied the accusation saying they aren't decriminalising or legalising drug use.

Stuart Nash's push for drug testing at festivals has been welcomed by the New Zealand Drug Foundation, who said it was "fantastic news".

But the foundation's executive director Ross Bell has warned the Minister that a law change would be needed before drug testing stations become the norm at the bigger festivals.

Nash's comments come after illicit drugs, which contained traces of pesticide, were obtained by police in Gisborne at the Rhythm and Vine music festival earlier this week.

A man in Australia died after a suspected drug overdose at a festival in New South Wales.

Nash said when it comes to the issue of drugs at music festivals, he wants to see a "more compassionate and restorative approach" when it comes to the use of drugs.

He said drug testing – whereby the chemical makeup and properties of a drug could be assessed before consumption – would be a move towards this approach.

"There are young people that go to these festivals that are taking drugs – I think if we continue to say 'yeah, this is a bad thing,' we're not going to do anything to help mitigate the risk and we're going to see people continue to end up in trouble."

He is seeking advice on how other countries deal with the issue of drugs at festivals.

But he is confident that a drug testing would help prevent hospitalisations.

In fact, he said at some festivals in Australia drug hospitalisations dropped by 95 per cent after drug testing was implemented.

He said the Government would work with independent organisations – such as the NZ Drug foundation – which would run the tests.

Police would not run the testing, Nash said, but they would be working closely with the event organisers to ensure the testing had integrity and was safe.

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