Speaker 1: Jason Lauren on over one hundred guys overnight and about
Speaker 1: face he could say, but a welcome one in my opinion,
Speaker 1: from the Victorian state government because over the coming summer
Speaker 1: they will be trialing pill testing.
Speaker 2: It does been lots of conversation about this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, just for anybody living under a rocker who's quite
Speaker 3: naive to the subject. This is where they will test
Speaker 3: drugs at festivals. That's right to let you know if
Speaker 3: they're safe or not. I mean, look, not that any
Speaker 3: drugs safe, but like what's in.
Speaker 4: Well, because there's been these horrific stories of people even
Speaker 4: trialing things for the first time in it and killing
Speaker 4: them teenagers.
Speaker 3: And that's not manned by police or anything. You're not
Speaker 3: going to be charged or anything like that.
Speaker 1: In the first three months of this year, the first
Speaker 1: three months of twenty twenty four, there were more overdoses
Speaker 1: than in the entirety of the previous year. So that's
Speaker 1: how often it's happening and how scary a proposition it is.
Speaker 2: Right now, it's scary, and I think.
Speaker 4: I think there will be some backlash from people who
Speaker 4: don't think that this is something that's necessary. But what
Speaker 4: I would say is burying your head in the sand
Speaker 4: and pretending that this isn't a real problem is so shortsighted.
Speaker 1: Well, the premiere just cinter Allen announced it on the
Speaker 1: Socials last night. Here's what she had to say.
Speaker 5: My husband and I are always thinking about our kids
Speaker 5: growing up and making their own decisions. In a few years,
Speaker 5: they'll be heading off to parties, to music festivals, and
Speaker 5: like all parents, so I often catch myself thinking, what
Speaker 5: if the worst happens, what if one of them doesn't
Speaker 5: make it home?
Speaker 3: And that is a fear.
Speaker 1: That's the fear right now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, look, I love that she also says there that
Speaker 4: you know, she's a parent and she understands that there
Speaker 4: is a chance that it could be her kids that
Speaker 4: try something that perhaps they shouldn't, or she's not naive
Speaker 4: to the fact that teenagers will be ten ages and
Speaker 4: try things.
Speaker 3: For the people don't want it is their belief that hey,
Speaker 3: if we provide pill testing, that's just going to encourage
Speaker 3: kids to do it.
Speaker 4: I guess so, but I also think that that's really
Speaker 4: naive and short sun.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1: Well, it's a trial which has already been undertaken in
Speaker 1: the Act Queensland as well as I say it's coming
Speaker 1: to Victoria. Let's get some expert insight on this from
Speaker 1: the Victorian Drug and Alcohol Association. We welcome the CEO
Speaker 1: Chris Chris Deforu to the show. Good morning, Chris, morning.
Speaker 6: Good morning.
Speaker 7: How are you all well?
Speaker 3: Good Chris, your reaction.
Speaker 6: It's a very positive announcement. The Victoria Alcohol and Drug
Speaker 6: Association and other health organizations have been calling for this
Speaker 6: all of last summer given the spike in overdose overdose
Speaker 6: numbers as well as the risks around adulated substances appearing
Speaker 6: in a listed drugs. So it is a very welcome announcement.
Speaker 3: Chris, can you run me through? And I'm not sure
Speaker 3: if you have all the details of how it would
Speaker 3: actually work, Like you know, I'm imagining. It's all anonymous.
Speaker 3: There's no police manning the tent or anything. It's just
Speaker 3: people rock up at this tent at a music festival.
Speaker 3: Their drugs are tested and given back to them and
Speaker 3: they're told what's in it.
Speaker 6: So I think there'll be further information coming out today
Speaker 6: about what the actual service will look like, but at
Speaker 6: a high level, it is an anonymous service, so people
Speaker 6: that are intending to use an elisted drug can take
Speaker 6: a take a take a sample of it for testing,
Speaker 6: and in that in that sort of context, it's they'll
Speaker 6: receive real time information about what the composition of their substances,
Speaker 6: but also have the opportunity to have a conversation with
Speaker 6: a health profession all about their decision making.
Speaker 4: So okay, so there's some education in it as well
Speaker 4: as just absolutely absolutely, because.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm all for this.
Speaker 4: I think it's really important, and I think the statistics
Speaker 4: that we see get worse and worse every year of
Speaker 4: people trying things and not knowing what they're putting in
Speaker 4: their body. But there will be a lot of people
Speaker 4: that completely disagree with this.
Speaker 2: There will be backlash.
Speaker 4: What do you say to those people who think this
Speaker 4: is a terrible idea?
Speaker 6: What I would say is that this is a health response,
Speaker 6: it's not a you know, and I think the effordence
Speaker 6: shows that criminalizing individuals who do take drugs is costs
Speaker 6: us more. It's you know, our courts get clogged up,
Speaker 6: and as you were saying a little earlier, you know,
Speaker 6: fatal mistakes, fatal mistakes happen, and you know, people end up,
Speaker 6: people often find out the negative consequences of what they
Speaker 6: are consuming once in a hospital ward or even worse morgue.
Speaker 1: Hey, Chris, you a dad, Yes, can you take your
Speaker 1: hat off? As CEO of the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association,
Speaker 1: as a parent of children, I don't know how old
Speaker 1: they are, but one day they will head off, presumably
Speaker 1: to parties, to music festivals. Would you feel a little safe,
Speaker 1: a little bit more comfortable sending them off to those
Speaker 1: festivals parties with their friends?
Speaker 6: Well, I guess you know, we all want to sort
Speaker 6: of make sure that you know, our children and most
Speaker 6: that we love have have have the right information about
Speaker 6: what they choose to do. And you know that's an
Speaker 6: ongoing conversation. But but of course it is a it
Speaker 6: is an important intervention that you know will be will
Speaker 6: be real in Victoria this this this coming summer. So
Speaker 6: so I think the families that there is an a
Speaker 6: level of comfort that if their child or will love
Speaker 6: one decides to take something they're given or that they
Speaker 6: buy illegally, then that'll be something where where they can
Speaker 6: get some information and you know, possibly have a conversation
Speaker 6: for the first time at about their drug taking.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and like it's not just kids doing this, by
Speaker 4: the way, there's adults. There's people in their twenties thirties
Speaker 4: who go to parties, go to festivals, and they don't
Speaker 4: come home.
Speaker 3: Hey, Chris, we'll leave it there. So Victorian and Alcohol
Speaker 3: and Drug Association thanks your time this morning, mate.
Speaker 6: Nowhere it's goat to chat with your.
Speaker 3: Thirteen twenty four ten is our number if you want
Speaker 3: to weigh in on this. We are talking about pill
Speaker 3: testing being trialed here in Victoria.
Speaker 1: They spend some horror stories, especially the last summer gone
Speaker 1: paramedics heading to music festivals, just the things they're seeing,
Speaker 1: the people they're treating.
Speaker 3: You know what I think, so that parents that are
Speaker 3: naive to think their kids won't be in that environment.
Speaker 3: And I'm not saying every kid will do drugs or.
Speaker 2: Anything like that. It doesn't. I think it doesn't encourage kids.
Speaker 3: No, it doesn't. But if you are sitting there going
Speaker 3: my child will never be in a situation where they're
Speaker 3: offered them or around them, then unfortunately you've got your
Speaker 3: head in the sand. Mate.
Speaker 4: But it also might not be your child. It might
Speaker 4: be a child's best friend. It might be a child's
Speaker 4: girlfriend or boyfriend or COLLIEE.
Speaker 3: Thirteen to twenty fourten is our number. If you're on
Speaker 3: a way in. We've actually got a caller sitting on
Speaker 3: hold at the moment who is dead set against it,
Speaker 3: will get their view and take your calls on the
Speaker 3: other side of this here on Nover. Well, tell you what,
Speaker 3: I'm surprised about this, but the topic we're hitting this
Speaker 3: morning has definitely divided people on the phone. She's a
Speaker 3: fifty to fifty split.
Speaker 2: That doesn't surprise me one day. Really Yeah, well.
Speaker 3: Then Melbourne, honestly, fifty percent of those people that are
Speaker 3: against it need to wake up.
Speaker 4: Okay, So what we're talking about is pill testing. The
Speaker 4: Victorian government have just announced this summer pill testing will
Speaker 4: be trialed.
Speaker 2: They'll be running it out.
Speaker 4: We don't have all of the details as yet, but
Speaker 4: it will be run out at festivals across rod I.
Speaker 1: Think I mentioned right before it was it's a u
Speaker 1: turn of sorts because Dan Andrews was fiercely opposed yeah
Speaker 1: to a pill testing trial.
Speaker 2: Look, drugs are illegal. I get it.
Speaker 4: I get that there are a lot of people who
Speaker 4: are scared by the idea of this because they think
Speaker 4: it's going to encourage their kids to do it, encourage
Speaker 4: people to do something that is against the law. But
Speaker 4: I think the bigger picture, Jason, which is what you're saying,
Speaker 4: is that people are going to do it anyway, save lives,
Speaker 4: and people make mistakes, and it's teenagers.
Speaker 2: Not smiling something.
Speaker 3: Not everyone will go and do it. They'll be too nervous,
Speaker 3: they'll be embarrassed, they'll be scared about the consequences. But
Speaker 3: even just like if four people go and do it
Speaker 3: at a festival and two of those don't, go ahead
Speaker 3: and take the drugs that you know were cut really
Speaker 3: badly and they're going to kill them, there's two lives saved.
Speaker 3: Karen from Kilmore Morning, you're dead against it, dead against it.
Speaker 8: It's illegal, illegal drugs, and you're saying that they're here,
Speaker 8: come and take illegal drugs.
Speaker 3: No, Karen, do you have kids, yes?
Speaker 7: Three.
Speaker 3: Do you think they've ever I'm not sure how old
Speaker 3: they are, But do you think they've ever been in
Speaker 3: a situation where they've been around drugs or off of them.
Speaker 8: I'm sure they have, because most kids would be. I'm
Speaker 8: sure they have.
Speaker 3: And what about if peer pressure got to them and
Speaker 3: they were going to take a tablet at a festival,
Speaker 3: wouldn't you prefer they knew what was in it.
Speaker 8: Well, you know what, They're not going to test every
Speaker 8: pill that goes into that festival.
Speaker 3: No, But if you hang on, if your kids had
Speaker 3: the option to get that pill tested, wouldn't you prefer
Speaker 3: they got it tested and knew what was in it
Speaker 3: and then had the decision and then be able to
Speaker 3: make the decision on whether they take it.
Speaker 8: Well, I don't think it makes any difference. They're going
Speaker 8: to take an illegal drug drug.
Speaker 3: But Karen, it's giving them a choice if they get
Speaker 3: it tested and then there is an expert in front
Speaker 3: of them saying this drug has been cut with something
Speaker 3: very bad that people are dying from.
Speaker 9: Yep.
Speaker 3: That gives them the choice on whether.
Speaker 2: They're going to and I think it's more than just.
Speaker 8: And then they'll go and take another.
Speaker 3: Well, he's if I.
Speaker 4: Can't understand what Karen's saying that she doesn't want to encourage.
Speaker 2: We shouldn't be encouraging.
Speaker 1: People, not going to encourage them, Karen, hang on, what
Speaker 1: what if I tell you this, Karen, that it's been
Speaker 1: proven that pill testing actually changes behavior because look at
Speaker 1: his research. But when you get a negative result at
Speaker 1: a drug testing or a pill testing festival facility, a hut. Basically,
Speaker 1: they deter a majority of people from from taking drugs
Speaker 1: basically because they see right in front the evidence what's
Speaker 1: in it and what it can do.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think there is I think some people,
Speaker 4: a lot of people, I would say, are putting things
Speaker 4: in their bodies that they don't know what's actually in it.
Speaker 3: Did you ever do drugs when you were younger, Karen No, Well,
Speaker 3: I hope for your kid's sake that the testing stays around,
Speaker 3: and I hope that you know, they don't find themselves
Speaker 3: in that situation.
Speaker 2: I can, I can, I can.
Speaker 4: I can understand why people are frightened by it because
Speaker 4: they I can understand. You would think that it would encourage, but.
Speaker 3: Ignoring the problem is more frightening. It really is.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Thirteen twenty four to ten to join us.
Speaker 4: On the Well, let's go to Williamstown, Chavon, Good morning.
Speaker 4: What do you think about pill testing in Victoria?
Speaker 9: Good morning.
Speaker 7: I think it's absolutely brilliant and well passed due. It's
Speaker 7: something that they do in the UK, in the loops
Speaker 7: in the UK do it already everywhere, and you'd be
Speaker 7: surprised how many of us attending festivals would throw out
Speaker 7: anything that we've purchased, really the you go that contains ketin,
Speaker 7: baby powder, all those things that the gangs mixed the
Speaker 7: drugs with. We just want to know how strong they
Speaker 7: are so that we know our limits and we know
Speaker 7: what we're taking, and we also want to ensure that
Speaker 7: everyone around us is staye.
Speaker 3: Can I just say, are you saying are you a
Speaker 3: living stat here? Have you been in a situation where
Speaker 3: you've thrown something out?
Speaker 7: Absolutely? Beg absolutely yes. Imus of us have a say
Speaker 7: in the loop in the UK attend a majority of
Speaker 7: the festivals in they test for free. There's no stigma
Speaker 7: attached to you going in and getting your pills or
Speaker 7: your powders tested. I am a living stat with saving.
Speaker 1: Live and there is evidence out of the UK and
Speaker 1: America as well that pill testing does impact the black market.
Speaker 3: Ah yeah.
Speaker 1: And the manufacturing of those substances in the on the
Speaker 1: black market.
Speaker 3: Well, if there's a dealer selling bad stuff, people have
Speaker 3: tested it, they're not going to go back and buy
Speaker 3: from them. I was just sending me a look online.
Speaker 3: You can buy bloody testing kits here in Melbourne for Amazon.
Speaker 4: I think there's yeah, and I think that if this
Speaker 4: is something that's going to save lives. It's absolutely necessary.
Speaker 4: There's been much debate about it for a very long time.
Speaker 4: It's a trial, it's going to be rolled out and
Speaker 4: I think we should definitely support it.
Speaker 3: Well, look, we've got to take a break. We're going
Speaker 3: to check in news and then on the other side
Speaker 3: of this to wrap up the topic, someone who can
Speaker 3: talk firsthand. Her son was a victim of taking something.
Speaker 3: He's still alive, but he took something that was cut badly.
Speaker 3: We're going to hear her side of the story next
Speaker 3: on over.
Speaker 1: So we've had lots of cause, lots of debate this morning,
Speaker 1: Jason Lauren.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and the cause we're getting through is literally fifty
Speaker 4: to fifty split against and four pill testing.
Speaker 3: Well, this was Karen on the phone before who was
Speaker 3: dead set against it. Wouldn't you prefer they got it
Speaker 3: tested and knew what was in it and then be
Speaker 3: able to make the decision on whether they take it.
Speaker 8: Well, I don't think it makes any difference. They're going
Speaker 8: to take an illegal drug, legal drugs.
Speaker 4: Yes, Karen's argument was that drugs are illegal and that's
Speaker 4: the end of the story.
Speaker 1: Ultimately, this is something that is saving lives. We've got
Speaker 1: a mum on the line. Kathy from Greensboro. Kathy's son
Speaker 1: overdosed at one of these notorious festivals that was held
Speaker 1: at Flemington earlier this year. Kathy, good morning, good morning.
Speaker 1: What do you how are you? By the way, thanks
Speaker 1: for joining.
Speaker 9: Us, Thank you.
Speaker 1: What do you make of this news?
Speaker 9: I have a mixed feeling about it. I don't it
Speaker 9: scares me in a way. You know, my son was
Speaker 9: one of the I think there was twelve of them
Speaker 9: on that particular festival. It was a pretty bad festival.
Speaker 9: It was in all the papers on the news. He
Speaker 9: was one of those kids. And they asked permission to
Speaker 9: do bloods on all of those ones that overdose, him
Speaker 9: being one of them. And you know, we even thought,
Speaker 9: oh he's got dirty tablets or it's a dirty dose
Speaker 9: or whatever. So it came back it was clean. There
Speaker 9: was nothing else. So all the bloods that came back,
Speaker 9: they said, it was just it was just a perfect
Speaker 9: storm on that day because it was extremely hot, it
Speaker 9: was very humid, under the tenth a bit of dehydration,
Speaker 9: and it just it just exacerbated all of the things
Speaker 9: that those drugs do to the body.
Speaker 4: And it just Cathy, just quickly. I think it's important
Speaker 4: that we point out that your son overdosed. But he's
Speaker 4: okay now.
Speaker 9: Yes, he was in intensive care for two days.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 9: I actually watched. I got there to pick them all up,
Speaker 9: and I couldn't get in contact with them. And then
Speaker 9: one of his friends entered the phone and said, oh,
Speaker 9: he's not good, and I just thought, oh, he's drunk
Speaker 9: as usual. So I went into the ground and they said, no,
Speaker 9: he's unconscious. Get to the tense and I had to
Speaker 9: watch them sedating, put him on life support and follow
Speaker 9: the ambulance to the hospital and not knowing if he
Speaker 9: was going to live or die, we had to wait.
Speaker 9: It was twenty four hours on life support and then
Speaker 9: you know, fortunately all of those kids survived. But it
Speaker 9: just it scares me because had if he had had
Speaker 9: that pill tested, they would have said, yeah, that's fine
Speaker 9: to take.
Speaker 4: And that's the conversation, Kathy, because while we are saying
Speaker 4: we think it's a you know, many people think it's
Speaker 4: a great initiative and it will save lives, there has
Speaker 4: been a conversation that thinks that this will encourage people
Speaker 4: to do it, and things like overdoses and the risk
Speaker 4: that taking illegal drugs.
Speaker 2: Has.
Speaker 4: It's not eradicated by the pill testing. There's still so
Speaker 4: much dangerous.
Speaker 3: There's got to be education with it as well, and
Speaker 3: they get to roll out the plan of how exactly.
Speaker 4: But I think these conversations, Kathy, thank you so much
Speaker 4: for you know. I'm sure you are having to be
Speaker 4: really brave to read as person.
Speaker 9: But I thought I didn't call when you first put
Speaker 9: it out, but I thought like he didn't have thirty drugs,
Speaker 9: they with clean drugs, and we still ended up with
Speaker 9: the same result. Fortunately he's okay, And I don't know
Speaker 9: how I feel about the pill testing on half half.
Speaker 9: If it does save lives, that's fantastic, but it's not
Speaker 9: going to be the one hundred percent.
Speaker 4: But if which it sounds like we don't know the
Speaker 4: full story of it, but it does sound like there
Speaker 4: will be a large part of education in this as
Speaker 4: well of teaching people.
Speaker 2: How to how to be safe.
Speaker 1: Kathy, as a mum who has been through a horrible situation,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't wish it upon anyone. Does this debate? Does
Speaker 1: it rattle you? Does it make you feel emotional?
Speaker 9: Really?
Speaker 1: I mean, how do you feel this morning? You're emotional
Speaker 1: about it.
Speaker 9: I am emotional because it all comes back to me
Speaker 9: that I wouldn't want to see another parents go through.
Speaker 9: Like I'm not naive. They go to parties, you know,
Speaker 9: they go to festivals, and I say to him, be safe,
Speaker 9: please don't don't do it. But if you think you know,
Speaker 9: I have a great relationship. But if you think you know,
Speaker 9: they think that they're invincible when they're young, like we
Speaker 9: all did you know, and you get that phone call
Speaker 9: and you just can't believe it. It's surreal and it's
Speaker 9: not fun to go through.
Speaker 2: You never think it's going to be your child or
Speaker 2: one of their friends.
Speaker 3: You've definitely a different perspective to the argument. I can
Speaker 3: tell you that one.
Speaker 2: Cathy, thank you so much.
Speaker 4: We appreciate you jumping on with us this morning because
Speaker 4: it's it's not an easy conversation.
Speaker 3: To have, and it's conversation that has to continue as well.
Speaker 3: Were it. Yeah, we yet to find out all the
Speaker 3: details of how it'll unfold, but testing needs to come
Speaker 3: with education.
Speaker 1: You're on the show tomorrow as well.
Speaker 3: Yes, we'll dive into it again. Then this is no
Speaker 3: Ova Morning.
Speaker 4: Jason Lauren, Jason Lauren, Wake Up feeling good on over
Speaker 4: one hundred Lauren on socials