The first weekend of the music festival season has seen two young people die of suspected drug overdoses. This has prompted a call from Matt Noffs for the NSW government to urgently convene a Drug Summit to consider drug law reform.

Noffs, the CEO of the Ted Noffs Foundation, Australia’s largest provider of drug treatment for young people, thinks that a lot of politicians on both sides really believe in pill testing – but they also want to be cautious.

He said, “I really do think that a Drug Summit would provide not just that political cover, but it would actually provide an opportunity for the community to come forward and say, ‘This is what we believe.’

“And of course, what I’ve found, time and time again, speaking to so many parents who have lost their children at these festivals, it’s too late for them but they stand up and say, ‘If only there was this option.’ A Drug Summit gives those parents, and other parents, an opportunity to say that directly to our leaders.”

Listen to the full broadcast here

Photo credit: Justin Lloyd