Hopes for more drug testing at music festivals

Photo / 123RF

By Katie Todd of RNZ

The drug testing agency Know Your Stuff hopes the Government moves quickly to enable more festival-goers to check what they are taking.

At a signing ceremony for a deal with the Greens this morning, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it was something the Government could make progress on, now New Zealand First was no longer in the picture.

Know Your Stuff offers pill testing at events around the country but its director Wendy Allison said it relied on donations from the public, and the hard work of a small team of volunteers.

She wanted legal clarification so the agency could seek more sources of funding and expand its services this summer.

"While this is effective on a small scale, it is the Police Minister's goal of being at every major event, which is where the most harm could be prevented," she said.

She said testing had been under way at venues around the country since the return to alert level 1, and the agency would continue to operate regardless of whether the government takes action or not.

However, she said expanding the services was a matter of urgency.

"We know there's a lot of MDMA around, we know that there are a lot of MDMA knock-offs around, and we know that there are a lot of people concerned that they may not be able to party," she said.

Ardern said any changes would be about recognising the value of drug-checking schemes.

"It's about saying that actually there is evidence overseas that those regimes save young people's lives. Who would we be to turn away from that," she said.

- RNZ