At the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019 there were 100s of admissions to emergency rooms and six drug-related deaths at music festivals in NSW. Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said that pill testing is not the way to combat drug overdoses, with police presence being instead increased and harsher searches being implemented on festival attendees, despite trials of pill testing at Canberra’s Groovin’ The Moo along with the coroner advising that pill testing be introduced in NSW.

To discuss the issue of pill testing we were joined by epidemiologist and public health lecturer at UTS Dr Daniel Demant.