Former Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Palmer has called for pill testing to be introduced at Australian music festivals, saying it is time for the nation to accept police-based prohibition has failed.
Mr Palmer says young people are continuing to take drugs at music festivals despite anti-drug campaigns and sniffer dogs, and evidence from European countries have allowed pill testing for almost 20 years is impossible to ignore.
Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation president Dr Alex Wodak says Australia is a global ‘laggard’ in terms of drug policy reform and called for the decriminalisation and regulation of illicit drugs.