Speaker 1: Already and this is this is the Daily This is
Speaker 1: the Daily OS. Oh, now it makes sense. Good morning
Speaker 1: and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Monday, the twenty
Speaker 1: fifth of November. I'm Harry, I'm Zara. Victoria will roll
Speaker 1: out its first pill test at a music festival this summer.
Speaker 1: Thirty five thousand people attending Beyond the Valley will have
Speaker 1: access to the drug checking service for the first time
Speaker 1: as part of the state government's plans to conduct more
Speaker 1: trials across Victoria. Health experts and youth support workers will
Speaker 1: be stationed at the pop up pill testing site to
Speaker 1: analyze drug samples and give advice to young festival goers.
Speaker 1: In today's Deep Dive, you'll hear my chat with Victoria's
Speaker 1: premieer just sin to Allen on the state's liftoff of
Speaker 1: pill testing and why she has changed her mind on
Speaker 1: drug harmt minimization.
Speaker 2: Now, Harry, it's a really interesting topic and I'm really
Speaker 2: looking forward to jumping into your interview with the premiere.
Speaker 2: I do just want to make a note very quickly
Speaker 2: before we do this podcast that you mentioned at the
Speaker 2: top there that the pill testing will run at Beyond
Speaker 2: the Valley and just for full transparency. Beyond the Valley
Speaker 2: is run by a group called Untitled, and Untitled our
Speaker 2: investors in the Daily OS that said, there has been
Speaker 2: absolutely zero editorial oversight by Untitled on this story, and
Speaker 2: we have run it completely separate from any relationship we
Speaker 2: might have with them in a commercial capacity. Without out
Speaker 2: of the way, though, I do want to get into
Speaker 2: pill testing for those listening who might not be familiar,
Speaker 2: what actually is the process to get a pill tested.
Speaker 1: So the way it works is that someone turns up
Speaker 1: to a pill testing center. They'll hand over a small
Speaker 1: quantity of the drug. It goes through a chemical analysis,
Speaker 1: which takes about fifteen minutes, and then a professional or
Speaker 1: will take the person through the results and give some
Speaker 1: personalized health advice. So you could end up being asked
Speaker 1: about your medical history or any pre existing conditions you
Speaker 1: might have. And the whole point of pill testing is
Speaker 1: that it's meant to stop people taking dangerous substances that
Speaker 1: might exist within what people understand to be a recreational drug.
Speaker 1: I just want to be really clear. It doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that taking illegal drugs becomes legal, but this is a
Speaker 1: space where you can get professional advice and some real
Speaker 1: time information about the drugs that someone might be consuming.
Speaker 2: It's obviously a really contentious topic, and I know that
Speaker 2: you're going to get into some of the pros and
Speaker 2: cons I guess that have been identified, but I do
Speaker 2: just want to zero in on Victoria first because that's
Speaker 2: the state that is currently undergoing this pill testing trial
Speaker 2: that you have just mentioned. How did this come to be?
Speaker 2: Why did Victoria suddenly come around to this idea of
Speaker 2: pill testing.
Speaker 1: Well, there's been a lot of discussion about the possible
Speaker 1: of bringing in pill testing, especially in the last few years,
Speaker 1: because Victoria's seen some really high overdose numbers and it's
Speaker 1: made headlines for some mass overdoses. So, for instance, there
Speaker 1: was an incident at the hard Mission Festival, which is
Speaker 1: an electronic festival earlier this year, when nine people were
Speaker 1: taken to hospital from a suspected overdose. Paramatics in the
Speaker 1: state also responded to more cases of overdoses in Victoria
Speaker 1: in the first three months of this year compared to
Speaker 1: all of twenty twenty three, and last year also had
Speaker 1: a high rate of deaths from overdoses that was five
Speaker 1: hundred and forty seven people in total, and in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two there were five hundred and fifty overdose deaths
Speaker 1: in the state. And these were all details that came
Speaker 1: through at the start of October in a report from
Speaker 1: the Victorian Coroner's Court, which is the court that looks
Speaker 1: at causes of death. And now a week after that
Speaker 1: coroner's review came out, and also after many months of
Speaker 1: fielding questions about whether they were going to do anything
Speaker 1: about pill testing, the government introduced legislation to make it
Speaker 1: legal and it passed within weeks. And now we know
Speaker 1: that Beyond the Valley is going to be the first
Speaker 1: place to roll this out. So I wanted to ask
Speaker 1: the Victorian Premier to Cintra Allen about how this new
Speaker 1: trial is going to work, and here's that chat. Premier
Speaker 1: to Cintra Allan, thank you so much for joining the Daily.
Speaker 3: As great to join you again, Harry.
Speaker 1: So Beyond the Valley is going to be the first
Speaker 1: pill testing trial in Victoria. Can you just talk me
Speaker 1: through what led you to this decision?
Speaker 3: Well, of course, Harry, as we've spoken about previously, we've
Speaker 3: made the decision to bring this pill testing pilot to
Speaker 3: the state because we know it saves lives. We know
Speaker 3: the evidence tells us that it saves lives, and we
Speaker 3: made the commitment to begin it with music festivals for
Speaker 3: this coming summer. So Beyond the Valley has been identified
Speaker 3: as one of the first sits, the first music festival sites.
Speaker 3: It's in a great part of our state, in the
Speaker 3: Golden plain Shire, and it's a big festival. There's something
Speaker 3: like thirty five thousand attendees go every year and it's
Speaker 3: obviously mostly people under thirty. So it's exactly the sort
Speaker 3: of place where we know that this pill testing work
Speaker 3: will be effective, particularly as one of the first sites
Speaker 3: that we're rolling out here in Victoria.
Speaker 1: So let's say festival attendee shows up on the day
Speaker 1: and wants to get a pill tested. What does that
Speaker 1: process look like.
Speaker 3: So we'll be working with a health services provider and
Speaker 3: they will have a range of both generalists and specialist
Speaker 3: health practitioners on site. I think what's really important to
Speaker 3: emphasize here is that it will be a fairly simple
Speaker 3: and effective way for the substance to be tested. It's
Speaker 3: expected that to take about fifteen minutes and people can
Speaker 3: come with you know, it can test pills and capsules
Speaker 3: and liquids and power. They can come and have the
Speaker 3: product tested and they'll also too And this is one
Speaker 3: of the key features behind why we know that this
Speaker 3: health intervention supports young people is that they'll also be
Speaker 3: getting some good health advice as well about both what's
Speaker 3: in the substance but also how to party safely and
Speaker 3: have a good time at the festival.
Speaker 1: Will it be confidential and anonymous.
Speaker 3: Absolutely absolutely. This is all part of that great health
Speaker 3: care focus that we will be providing through the health
Speaker 3: providers that have been contracted to deliver the service. And
Speaker 3: if you also step back and think about this in
Speaker 3: that broader context too, paramedics responded to more drug overdoses
Speaker 3: at festivals in the first three months of this year
Speaker 3: than during the whole of twenty twenty three, so we
Speaker 3: know that this is this is an issue, which is
Speaker 3: why we've put legislation to the Parliament in Victoria this
Speaker 3: year and we're now starting the program with the first
Speaker 3: of the first over this coming summer.
Speaker 1: So does this mean that beyond the Valley and some
Speaker 1: other festivals where you're hoping to have this pill testing
Speaker 1: service trialed, there will still be sniffer dogs and police
Speaker 1: cracking down and arresting people for taking and bringing drugs.
Speaker 3: Look, the testing, the pill testing part is what is
Speaker 3: supported by the legislative framework. But let's be really clear,
Speaker 3: the possession and use of illicit substances is still illegal.
Speaker 3: That is still illegal. What the legislation provides for is
Speaker 3: a space where it can be anonymous, it can be supported,
Speaker 3: where the pills can be tested, that advice can be provided.
Speaker 3: And this is an important distinction, a really important distinction
Speaker 3: in terms of how police operationally respond and support festivals
Speaker 3: and festival goers. That's a matter for how they respond
Speaker 3: because of course they work with the festival organizers, paramedics,
Speaker 3: ambulance services, local community and other services. So those operational
Speaker 3: decisions are a matter for police. What is being provided
Speaker 3: here is safe advice and testing of substances for festival goers.
Speaker 1: So the normal practices of law enforcement, which can involve
Speaker 1: strip searchers for instance, will still go ahead.
Speaker 3: Well, those are operational decisions, Harry, that are made by
Speaker 3: Victoria Police, and they would be decisions that would not
Speaker 3: sit around the pill testing site, because if you like,
Speaker 3: there is a there is a space that's created through
Speaker 3: the legislation for the pill testing to be undertaken, for
Speaker 3: it to be a space where festival goers can go
Speaker 3: and get their substances tested. And I really want to
Speaker 3: emphasize this.
Speaker 4: Because I want we want festival goers to use this service.
Speaker 4: We really really want festival goers to use this servers
Speaker 4: because we know the evidence tells us that it saves lives.
Speaker 4: We see that from the huge body of evidence that
Speaker 4: comes out of the UK for example. So we want
Speaker 4: festival goers to use this service to know that they
Speaker 4: can come and the substance can be tested and they
Speaker 4: can get the advice. Yes, outside of the testing service,
Speaker 4: the use and possession of illicit substances is still illegal.
Speaker 4: It's still illegal, and how police respond to those incidences
Speaker 4: are a matter for police. What we're providing is the
Speaker 4: space where the health advice can be provided.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back with the rest of the interview
Speaker 1: just after this quick message from our sponsor. So, what
Speaker 1: does a successful pill testing service look like to you?
Speaker 1: When we sort of see the wrap up of what's
Speaker 1: happened to beyond the valley, What are those kind of
Speaker 1: signs you're looking for? You're looking at the rates of
Speaker 1: disposing drugs. Are you looking at the rate of intercepting
Speaker 1: harmful substances?
Speaker 3: Look, there's a combination of things that we want to see.
Speaker 3: I want to see festival goers using the service first
Speaker 3: and foremost, or want to see festival goers coming and
Speaker 3: being confident that they know that they can use this service,
Speaker 3: get the advice both on the substances, but also that
Speaker 3: broader advice around how to have a great time at
Speaker 3: the festival in a really safe way. Also, two, we
Speaker 3: have the opportunity, should substances be found to be particularly harmful,
Speaker 3: that that information is shared with festival goers. And then
Speaker 3: also too, we know that the service that is being
Speaker 3: set up can test something like two hundred samples a day,
Speaker 3: So I really want that number to be reached, and
Speaker 3: that will be with festival goers knowing that they can
Speaker 3: come and have the confidence to use the service.
Speaker 1: And if some of those identifiable areas of success that
Speaker 1: I've outlined there, if that's not met, would you consider
Speaker 1: rolling back some of these reforms with pill testing?
Speaker 3: Well, well, we know pill testing works. We know pill
Speaker 3: testing works and that it saves lives. We've seen that
Speaker 3: from the evidence overseas. Obviously, this is the first time
Speaker 3: it's being introduced here in Victoria, so we will over
Speaker 3: the course of this summer evaluate really carefully. The sites
Speaker 3: that this is being rolled out on were also will
Speaker 3: be moving next year to having a number of fixed
Speaker 3: locations where pill testing can be provided from around Melbourne.
Speaker 3: If you'd asked me a few years ago, Harry on
Speaker 3: my views on this, I would have said at the time,
Speaker 3: I wasn't convinced at the time when it came to
Speaker 3: pill testing, But I have considered this more deeply as
Speaker 3: my own kids have gotten older. I've talked to other
Speaker 3: family members, people in a community. My perspectives have changed,
Speaker 3: and it really also what was a big factor in
Speaker 3: my decision was listening to parents, listening to parents of
Speaker 3: kids who had had either a really terrible experience or
Speaker 3: kids who'd lost their mates. So it is about knowing
Speaker 3: that we've got this opportunity to keep young people safe,
Speaker 3: which is why we're rolling out this measure.
Speaker 1: I imagine you've heard from some parents who are also
Speaker 1: a little bit concerned about pill testing though, and perhaps
Speaker 1: seeing it as a green light to taking drugs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, it absolutely, it absolutely is not a green light.
Speaker 3: As I said, illegal substances remain just that they remain
Speaker 3: illegal in terms of use and possession. But we also
Speaker 3: know we also know that we can't bury our head
Speaker 3: in the sand. And we also know that young people
Speaker 3: are smart. This is one of the things that a
Speaker 3: parent told me. Young people are smart. They just want
Speaker 3: the information and we've got to give it to them.
Speaker 3: And if we've got the opportunity to give them that
Speaker 3: information and do it in a way that might save
Speaker 3: a life, then it's absolutely worth doing.
Speaker 1: You've spoken about your children getting to an age where
Speaker 1: they're starting to go to festivals, and just as a
Speaker 1: final thought, would you feel safer knowing that your kids
Speaker 1: would be going to a festival like Beyond the Valley
Speaker 1: and there is a pill testing service there.
Speaker 3: Yes, this is about focusing on the health of young
Speaker 3: people because the evidence tells us it saves lives, and
Speaker 3: that's why it's worth it.
Speaker 1: Premier de Cintra Allen, thank you so much for joining
Speaker 1: The Daily Ours.
Speaker 3: Thanks Harry, good to talk to you.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to The Daily Ours. If you
Speaker 1: enjoyed this podcast, consider giving us a follow and telling
Speaker 1: your friends about it, maybe someone that's heading off to
Speaker 1: Beyond the Valley this year that you know. We'll be
Speaker 1: back in your feeds later today with the headlines, but
Speaker 1: until then, have a great Day. My name is mad
Speaker 1: and I'm a proud Arunda Bunjelung Calcadion woman from Gadighl country.
Speaker 1: The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on
Speaker 1: the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to
Speaker 1: all Aboriginal and torrest Rate island and nations.
Speaker 3: We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries,
Speaker 3: both past and present.