Have you seen the news? NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced that drug amnesty bins will be rolled out at music festivals this summer.
The amnesty bins mean that young festival attendees can throw out their drugs without any fear of police prosecution. This is one of the Deputy Coroner's recommendations from this year's inquest. We know from the use of amnesty bins at UK events that people do put drugs in them. In the UK though, the contents of the bins are often tested and then that information is used by emergency services.
However, against advice, NSW have specified that these amnesty bins will be ‘wet bins’. They will have bleach or similar inside to destroy the sample, so testing what is discarded won’t be possible.
Basically, this type of amnesty bin is the smallest level of commitment to implement the Deputy Coroner's recommendations. Gladys once again doubled down on her objection to pill testing, saying she is “closing the door” on pill testing. She also refused to implement other recommendations such as getting rid of sniffer dogs and limiting strip searches.
We've already lost one young life this Summer. My thoughts remain with Glen Mcrae's family, and to the families who lost their children last Summer, and now must watch on a year later, seeing hardly anything change.
Can you help me make some noise and respectfully tweet to the NSW Premier?
Adriana