“The possession or supply of prohibited drugs is a serious criminal offence. Those thinking of bringing substances into the event are reminded there will be uniformed and plain-clothed police patrolling the festival, which will include the use of drug-detection dogs,” said Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Bell in a statement released on Monday, two days after 22-year-old Joshua Tam died of a suspected overdose at the Lost Paradise music festival at Gosford on Saturday night.
Mr Tam was the fourth person to die of a suspected overdose at a NSW music festival since September last year. In Victoria, a 20-year-old man died on Tuesday from a suspected drug overdose after attending a music festival south-east of Melbourne.
NSW festivalgoers say that the state government’s refusal to consider pill testing is the wrong approach.
“It’s much better than trying to scare people with the dogs - then they just panic and take all their drugs at once,” said one man.
The Herald witnessed a young man being tackled by police when he seemingly ingested something from his pocket following a positive indication by a sniffer dog.
Another Field Day attendee said a reluctance to allow pill testing showed the government is out of touch on what young people see as a key election issue.
“Berejiklian needs to get her votes, but she won’t get them from here,” he said.
Young people will take drugs regardless of the risks, another said.
Ms Berejiklian this week reiterated her government would not consider pill testing as a means of harm reduction. “There is no such thing as a safe illegal drug and I urge everyone who is attending a festival to stay safe and think carefully about the decisions they make around drugs,” she said.
Despite the warnings of the dangers of drugs, it is understood police issued dozens of future court attendance notices throughout the day.
Police found substances they will allege are drugs secreted internally in peoples’ pockets and taped to one man’s testicles.
