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‘All of us want to keep our children safe’: Pill testing debate on Q&A

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This summer in Australia has seen the debate over pill testing heat up while the number of drug overdoses occurring at music festivals continues to rise.
 
The debate was brought to the ABC’s Q&A program last night, with the following panellists:

• Former Australian Federal Police Commissioner, Mick Palmer
• Acting Assistant Police Commissioner for New South Wales, Stuart Smith
• Medical Director of the NSW Kings Cross Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, Dr Maryanne Jauncey
• Author, educator and former drug user, Kerryn Redpath
• Emergency medicine specialist and ‘pill testing pioneer’, Dr David Caldicott

Prior to his appearance on Q&A, Dr Caldicott explained his intentions for taking part in the show to newsGP.
 
‘I’m rather hoping it will be an opportunity for people who clearly have misconceptions about what’s involved [in pill testing], to address those misconceptions,’ he said.
 
‘I think there has been a degree of misunderstanding, at best, and dishonesty, at worst, about what pill testing can and can’t do, and what it’s trying to do. We refer to them as “zombie arguments” –arguments that are dead, but refuse to lie down.
 
‘Our hope is that we’ll try to knock off as many as possible.’
 
The debate began with a question each from Adriana Buccianti and Tony Woods, both parents who have lost children to drug overdose at a music festival, and who are on opposing sides of the issue.
 
Ms Buccianti asked the panel, ‘How much longer do we have to ignore the evidence and the will of the people?’
 
Dr Caldicott said he believed the opposition was largely political rather than evidence-based.
 
However, Ms Redpath cited two prominent toxicologists, Dr John Lewis and Dr Andrew Leibie, who are opposed to pill testing, and told the audience, ‘I believe everyone wants to save lives … but we have a very different way of looking at it.’
 
Mr Woods, conversely, asked the panel, ‘Drugs are idiosyncratic, so how will pill testing save lives? It won’t.’
 
In response, Dr Caldicott explained that one of the main purposes of the pill testing process was to provide education.
 
‘One of the greatest misconceptions is that what we’re trying to do is trying to treat overdoses with pill testing – we’re not,’ he said. ‘We’re trying to stop people putting pills in their mouths.’
 
Dr Caldicott further explained that even if a drug was found by testing to be what the consumer expected it to be, they would still receive education about the possible harmful effects of taking that drug.
 
‘This is the safety net – this is the last chance a potential consumer of a drug has before consuming that drug,’ he said.
 
The panel also explored issues of legality and law enforcement, in relation to music festival drug use, as well as services such as medically supervised injecting rooms.
 
Superintendent Smith did not accept the argument that pill use at festivals could be compared to a safe injecting room, and should therefore be afforded the same latitude.
 
‘I still can’t see a time where I would feel comfortable with telling an individual they can use an illicit drug,’ he said.
 
‘It doesn’t require an intent behind it, the possession of the pill and then obviously the supply back to any individual … certainly there would be an offence committed.’
 
Dr Jauncey, however, believes the discussion around drug use needs to be entirely reframed. 
 
‘We need to not deal with personal drug use as a crime, but as a health issue,’ she said.
 
She discussed the difficulties many drug users face when seeking treatment for their addiction, and suggested a way in which treatment services could be boosted.
 
‘If we could shift some of those resources away from the criminal response, into the health response, so that people do have access to treatment … that’s how we could fundamentally shift what’s going on.’
 
However, Superintendent Smith was uncertain that the evidence from other countries that permit pill testing was compelling enough to justify its implementation in Australia.
 
‘I look at the other countries and I see prescribed opiate-based drugs that are a disaster,’ he said.
 
‘And if we accept that we need to change what we are going to do at dance festivals, we need some assurance around it – and I just don’t see it.’
 
However, in response, Dr Jauncey pointed out the distinction between making drugs available and acknowledging they are being used.
 
‘We need to remove the criminal response merely to the possession of a small quantity for your own personal use,’ she said.
 
Mr Palmer agreed with Dr Jauncey that personal drug use should be treated as a health issue rather than a criminal or law enforcement one.
 
‘Festivals are generally full of recreational drug users … in my experience, 95% of whom would never come to the attention of police other than being arrested or apprehended with drugs at a music festival,’ he said.
 
He also advocated a different approach to other, more problematic, drug users.
 
‘We need to understand the human nature of this, have more compassion to how we deal with it,’ he said. ‘And we’re not going to do that if we keep on demonising and arresting the people who simply take the drugs.’
 
In the end, Dr Caldicott observed that the world has changed in the 19 years that the pill testing debate has been taking place in Australia, with recreational drug use becoming increasingly accepted among younger generations – whether we like it or not.
 
‘If we have a more sophisticated conversation with young people, and listen to their voices, we might get to the place of safety that we all crave far faster,’ he said.
 
However, Ms Redpath made the further observation that many legal drugs such as alcohol and opioids still remain a serious problem, even though they are regulated, which to her made a similar regime for more illicit drugs seem uncertain.

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Harm minimisation Illicit drugs Pill testing Q&A

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