New Zealand is soon to legalize illicit drug checking permanently at music festivals

New Zealand has made history by becoming the first country in the world to legalize drug checking services permanently. The bill was passed earlier this month and will come into effect from this December. As per the new law, people attending any music festival or other designated festivals can now test the safety of their illicit substance like MDMA, ecstasy, and more without having to face any legal actions.

The bill was opposed by only one opposition group and passed 87 to 33 votes. The government explained why they are legalizing it by saying that most event attendees acquire drugs from the black market. And most of the time these drug substances are contaminated and mixed with cheap and harmful elements that can cause severe damage to the users. By legalizing the checking, people will be safer than before.

According to Andrew Little, the health minister of New Zealand explained that the new law is backed by various studies in which festival attendees who had used drug-checking services said that they changed their mind after they saw the results of the tests.

Health Minister Andrew Little said, ‘Last summer, 40 percent of the MDMA that was tested turned out to be butylene, a potentially dangerous synthetic cathinone, also known as bath salts and linked to deaths and hospitalizations.’

Canada found out through their 2020 Vancouver Island Drug Checking Project that talcum powder and boric acid were found in cocaine obtained from the black market. Talcum powder can be life-threatening if it is injected. It can clog the blood vessels in the body. UK’s drug checking NGO, The Loop learned that 30% of the drugs sold as MDMA at the Lost Village festival were just caffeine.

The concept of drug checking is not completely new. It has been practiced in many events across the UK, the USA, Europe, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. During the testing, a small sample of the given substance is tested to find out what ingredients were used to make it. People are also given counseling as a part of the checking.

With the new law, all these events will be decriminalized and the services will be provided by state-sponsored programs and institutions from now on. As per the research paper published by Victoria University of Wellington, this practice will not encourage people from using drugs more rather it will bring positive behavioral changes. Young people value harm reduction education and act upon it.

Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health found out in their research that drug checking as a harm education tool was very much appreciated during different events. The research was published earlier this year in European Addiction Research Journal.

Most of the countries in the world have been hesitant to legalize the use of drug testing permanently because of social and political issues. The New Zealand government has come as a pioneer and its experiment might help others to understand more about this complex topic.