In proposed measures lauded by the mother of one of the tragic festival-goers, Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame urged the Berejiklian government to consider decriminalising the personal use of illicit drugs and stage a drug summit to develop evidence-based drug policy.
The draft document seen by the Herald also recommends the creation of a state-sponsored drug checking facility to mirror the Netherlands-based Information and Monitoring System (DIMS), and that strip-search legislation be overhauled.
The draft recommendations follow a three-week coronial inquest scrutinising the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Alex Ross-King, 19, Joshua Tam, 22, Nathan Tran, 18, Callum Brosnan, 19, Joseph Pham, 23, Diana Nguyen, 21, who all died after consuming MDMA at music events between December 2017 and January this year.
Jeanine Ross-King, the mother of Ms Ross-King, said Ms Grahame’s recommendations reflected the evidence of experts during the evidence and acknowledge the points of view of the families who contributed their experiences to the judicial inquiry.
The draft recommendations included reference to an academic report calling for strip-search laws to be tightened after NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller tried to have the University of NSW paper excluded from the inquest.
The report, by UNSW law faculty lecturer Michael Grewcock and Vicki Sentas, argues the definition of a strip search should be clarified and the “deeply humiliating” practice of requiring a person to squat and cough or bend over while undergoing a search should be explicitly banned.
The inquest heard evidence from a number of experts, including emergency doctor David Caldicott, who said pill testing provided an opportunity for qualified health professionals to intervene and discuss various risk factors of drug taking with users who wouldn’t normally interact with drug services.
Ms Grahame said that in the event pill testing was approved, the police commissioner should issue operational guidelines requesting police focus on stopping drug dealing instead of punishing people for possession, and highlight that it is part of “good policing” to engage positively with festival-goers wherever possible.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has repeatedly voiced her opposition to pill testing, describing it as a “green light” to take illegal substances.
Read the full article here (Sydney Morning Herald, 15 October 2019)
