20 February 2025

Greens Cr Jess Whittaker has called on the NSW Health Minister to go further in his positive steps to reduce harm for young people at festivals after the announcement of a NSW first pill testing trial at Yours and Owls Festival.

“Drug detection dogs cause festival goers to take risks that can lead to overdose,” Cr Whittaker said. “NSW's first pill testing trial at Yours and Owls should be allowed to operate without having  drug detection dogs and strip searches for festival goers.

“NSW drug dogs and strip searches are also a horrendous breach of our civil liberties. When used at festivals, train stations, shopping centres and pubs, they only target small-time recreational users. A police search can have an extremely damaging effect on an individual and reduce community trust in police. In contrast, an interaction with a healthcare worker is safe and can be a positive experience for a young person who is thinking about taking drugs.

“The NSW Health Minister needs to step up here and remove the horror of drug detection dogs and strip searches on young people. If the Minister is serious about young people’s health then he can remove the dogs and strip searches from a wonderful Illawarra festival.

“We need to have drug testing, but we don’t need an approach which horrifies and stigmatizes local festival goers. The two approaches directly contradict each other and may lead to people taking all their drugs to avoid police detection before they’ve had a chance to get them tested and speak to a health worker in a safe zone, away from police.

“Police dogs also have a low success rate of detecting small quantities of drugs, around 25 per cent. That's just one out of 4 people searched who are found to actually have drugs on them. So as well as the impact on civil liberties, drug dogs are a waste of money in a difficult economic environment for festivals.

“It costs $2,000 an hour to fund a police dog while on duty, and sometimes there are up to three being used at once. That’s $6,000 per hour to a festivals’ bottom line with a “user pays” policing model, for a response that traumatizes festival goers and causes overdoses. It makes no sense for the NSW Government to abuse their power and treat young people like criminals.”

For more information, contact Cr Jess Whittaker on mobile or email.