Happy New Year to you all. Over the holidays, I was deeply saddened to hear of at least one tragic death at a music festival linked to drugs. Then, just this weekend another young person: a 19-year-old young woman named Alex. My heart goes out to these young people's family and friends.
Five people have now died in four months after taking drugs at NSW festivals.
The media seized on these stories and in every article I read, pill testing was mentioned. Not only that, but they all mentioned the fact that the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian still won't back down on her opposition to pill testing.
Alex's grandmother, Denise, had this to say:
"Premier please can we have this pill testing done. It's such a small thing to do. It's not hard (and) if it saves one life - one life is a life."
Things are changing though. Our movement to help keep young people as safe as we can is growing. Over the summer, the NSW Opposition Leader, Michael Daley, said pill testing shouldn't be off the table and that if elected, a NSW Labor government would "listen to the experts".
I am an expert. I know the pain of losing my son Daniel after he overdosed at a music festival. I hope Mr Daley, Ms Berejiklian, and all the politicians listen to experts like me, as well as the policy experts, researchers, and the Australian Medical Association, who know pill testing works and want it approved.
If you share my beliefs, you can make them known at this Sydney rally and this Melbourne campaign launch. It's time we took the demand for pill testing to the streets, and made it a reality. Until we do, every life lost is a life that might possibly have been saved by pill testing.
2019 is the year we can make this happen.
Thank you for your support,
Adriana.