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Speaker 1: Good morning everybody, and welcome to the Daily Odds. You

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Speaker 1: made it to Friday, the first of July. We have

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Speaker 1: just sticked over the halfway point of twenty twenty two.

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Speaker 1: Let that sink in on your Friday morning. How crazy?

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Speaker 1: Has that been? A big year for the news and

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Speaker 1: a big year for the Daily Ods and it's not

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Speaker 1: going to slow down today. Today's deep dive is going

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Speaker 1: to be about pill testing. There's been a lot of

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Speaker 1: news from the nation's capital. We'll take you through all

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Speaker 1: of that later in the episode. First, Billy, take me

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Speaker 1: through the headlines of today.

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Speaker 2: Close to twenty thousand teachers from both public and Catholic

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Speaker 2: schools went on strike in New South Wales yesterday in

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Speaker 2: what was the third industrial action taken by teachers in

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Speaker 2: seven months. The strikes were in response to the three

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Speaker 2: percent pay rise that was included for teachers in last

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Speaker 2: week's New South Wales budget, which is below the current

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Speaker 2: rate of inflation. New South Wales Education Minister Sarah Mitchell

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Speaker 2: said she was disappointed with the strikes, saying the three

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Speaker 2: percent pay increase was the most generous of anywhere in

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Speaker 2: the country.

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Speaker 1: Meanwhile, a Chinese state owned news outlet hit out at

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Speaker 1: Prime Minister Anthony Alberesi's recent warning to China about a

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Speaker 1: potential invasion of Taiwan. An editorial written by The China

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Speaker 1: Daily accused the Australian government of failing to reciprocate the

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Speaker 1: goodwill displayed by Beijing since Alberanzi took office, saying its

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Speaker 1: quote displayed no signs of changing the course set by

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Speaker 1: the previous coalition government.

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Speaker 2: The Russian government has failed to pay its foreign debts

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Speaker 2: for the first time since nineteen eighteen. Russia says it

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Speaker 2: has the money to pay, but cannot do so because

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Speaker 2: of sanctions that have been imposed by Western nations, with

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Speaker 2: government spokesperson Dmitri Peskov calling the default unjustified.

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Speaker 1: And today's good news. I was pumped about this news yesterday.

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Speaker 1: Sydney will host the South By Southwest Festival in October

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Speaker 1: of twenty twenty three, after the culture festival kicks off

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Speaker 1: in its traditional home of Austin, Texas in March next year.

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Speaker 1: The Sydney south By Southwest will focus on the creative

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Speaker 1: industries of the Asia Pacific region, with New South Wales

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Speaker 1: Tourism Minister Stuart Airs predicting the festival will bring in

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Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty million dollars in visitor expenditure in

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Speaker 1: the first five years. Now, Billie, there was a little

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Speaker 1: bit of kind of what's south by Southwest Vibes online

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Speaker 1: yesterday as an idea is nerd and as a culture nerd,

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Speaker 1: this is a really big deal.

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Speaker 2: So, Sam, pill testing is back in the headlines and

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Speaker 2: it's been a big issue that young people in particular

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Speaker 2: have cared a lot about in recent years. Sam, let's

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Speaker 2: start by discussing why we're actually talking about pill testing today.

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Speaker 2: So what's happened that's put this issue back into the

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Speaker 2: national attention.

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Speaker 1: Close your eyes and picture you're in the nation's capital,

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Speaker 1: because that's where Australia's first ever fixed pill testing center

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Speaker 1: will be opening this month. And when I say fixed,

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Speaker 1: I mean that the center is not going to be

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Speaker 1: set up for a specific events like a music festival,

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Speaker 1: but it's going to operate on a weekly basis for

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Speaker 1: at least the next six months. It's going to be

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Speaker 1: a drop in service that will run on Thursdays and

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Speaker 1: Fridays every week, and we'll have a nurse on hands

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Speaker 1: to general health advice to visitors who come into the

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Speaker 1: facility and so.

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Speaker 2: The issue of pill testing has obviously been a pretty

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Speaker 2: divisive one and so I imagine for something like this

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Speaker 2: to happen it needs the support of the government. Does

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Speaker 2: it have the Act government support in doing this well?

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Speaker 1: The Act Government has taken the view that pill testing

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Speaker 1: can limit the dangers of drug use and in turn

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Speaker 1: it can save lives. The ACT Government has called pill

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Speaker 1: testing part of what they say is a sensible approach

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Speaker 1: to addressing illicit drug use and also gives health professionals

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Speaker 1: intercepting opportunity to speak to potential drug users about ways

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Speaker 1: to reduce potential harm and discuss the toxicity of certain drugs.

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Speaker 2: And so when we've seen this come up in the

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Speaker 2: news before, other state governments haven't really taken this approach.

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Speaker 2: So it seems like quite a different perspective to what

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Speaker 2: we've seen in the past. What have other approaches away

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Speaker 2: from pill testing looks like?

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Speaker 1: Sam I remember there was a bit of a discussion

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Speaker 1: about pill testing in New South Wales about three years

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Speaker 1: ago when then Premier Gladys Piagiclin refused to go ahead

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Speaker 1: with any sort of pill testing at music festivals. Now,

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Speaker 1: this was on the back of formal inquests into drug

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Speaker 1: deaths at music festivals that was handed down that year,

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Speaker 1: which actually recommended trialing pill testing and also to stop

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Speaker 1: the use of snifferdogs and limiting strip searchers at music festivals. Now,

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Speaker 1: despite the recommendations of this inquest, Beeragiclin was quite firm

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Speaker 1: to her beliefs, saying this about the issue in October

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Speaker 1: of twenty nineteen. What will stop young kids from dying

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Speaker 1: over the summer is for them to stop taking the pills.

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Speaker 1: There is no safe way to take pills. Beeragiclin said

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Speaker 1: that instead of trialing pill testing centers, she would provide

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Speaker 1: special amnesty bins at festivals instead. What's an amnesty bin.

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Speaker 1: It's a bin that would allow festival goers to get

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Speaker 1: rid of any illicit substances without being prosecuted or penalized.

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Speaker 1: She said. This would give young people a place to

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Speaker 1: discard their drugs that they didn't want to use, and

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Speaker 1: would reduce the intimidation factor of police at festivals. You

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Speaker 1: have to remember that for a lot of young people,

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Speaker 1: seeing the police at festivals, especially with sniffer dogs or

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Speaker 1: conducting strip searchers, had been panicking some people into taking

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Speaker 1: the entirety of their drugs all at once. Now this

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Speaker 1: raises the danger of an adverse reaction and a potential overdose.

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Speaker 2: And how successful have amnesty bins been since they were introduced.

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Speaker 1: So we had the discussion about amnesty bins and then

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Speaker 1: we had a little visit from a friend called COVID

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Speaker 1: nineteen in March of twenty twenty. So it's actually a

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Speaker 1: really tricky question to answer. So these amnesty bins came

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Speaker 1: in at twenty nineteen and then music festivals will almost

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Speaker 1: immediately shut down. But now with live events starting to return,

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Speaker 1: we're getting a little bit more of a sample size

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Speaker 1: into how effective these bins could be. But there's one

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Speaker 1: other issue with these bins that's being discussed, and that's

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Speaker 1: what to do with the drugs that's put in them.

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Speaker 1: At the moment, the substances in the bins are being

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Speaker 1: destroyed rather than being used for data collection. Now you've

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Speaker 1: got to remember that these amnesty bins offer an opportunity

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Speaker 1: for experts to get a better idea of the current

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Speaker 1: drug market and this could then informed their strategies to

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Speaker 1: educate drug users and limit the chance of serious drug

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Speaker 1: harm or death. But when you destroy the drugs, this

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Speaker 1: does waste an opportunity to learn more about the drugs

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Speaker 1: that young people were taking into festivals.

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Speaker 2: Right, So that's another harm minimization approach. But what sort

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Speaker 2: of evidence has the ACT government gathered to support installing

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Speaker 2: a pill testing clinic instead of introducing amnesty bins.

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Speaker 1: In the kind of decade that we've been having this

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Speaker 1: conversation nationally, it's pretty safe to say that the ACT

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Speaker 1: has been at the forefront of pill testing so far,

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Speaker 1: and it's drawn on the findings from previous trials conducted

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Speaker 1: in the territory to start this pilot program. One of

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Speaker 1: the big services was conducted at the Canberra Griven the

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Speaker 1: Move Festival in twenty nineteen, a very popular festival for

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Speaker 1: young Australians, and that followed the first ever Australian pill

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Speaker 1: testing trial at the same event the prior year. The

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Speaker 1: Australian National University, also based in Canberra, published a final

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Speaker 1: report on the twenty nineteen trial, which supported firm the

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Speaker 1: pill testing across Australia. Within this report, there are a

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Speaker 1: few really interesting findings and they paint a picture of

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Speaker 1: a pill testing model with the potential to save lives.

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Speaker 1: As the Act intends for this new center to be used.

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Speaker 1: What did we learn. We learned that every participant in

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Speaker 1: the trial who had a very dangerous substance detected disposed

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Speaker 1: of that drug, while those who were told the drug

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Speaker 1: wasn't what they thought it was were less likely to

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Speaker 1: take the substance. It's also worth noting that most of

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Speaker 1: the festival goers who had their drug confirmed as what

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Speaker 1: they expected it to be still took the drug, but

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Speaker 1: said they used harm reduction knowledge to reduce the risks

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Speaker 1: of an adverse effect.

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Speaker 2: Sam, it's pretty clear that the Act Government is trying

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Speaker 2: to afford a new path in this drug harm minimization path.

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Speaker 2: I think it's also worth noting that last month the

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Speaker 2: Act Government endorsed a proposed law that would actually decriminalize

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Speaker 2: small amount of commonly used illicit drugs such as cocaine

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Speaker 2: and heroine. So they're definitely trying something new that no

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Speaker 2: other jurisdiction in Australia is doing. Thank you so much

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Speaker 2: for listening to this episode of The Daily Oz. Please

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Speaker 2: give us a follow if you can, and leave us

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Speaker 2: a review if you're on Apple. It really helps the

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Speaker 2: Daily Os grow. We will see you on Monday