With this year’s Splendour In The Grass festival a mere couple of weeks away, punters’ excitement for the favourite Aussie festival reaches great heights. However, so too does their anxiety, and not just over rainy conditions or concerns of their favourite band sucking, it’s the use of sniffer dogs and drug officers.
Dan McNamee of electronic group Art vs. Science (who are set to perform at the festival this year) is all too aware of patrons’ fears of patrolling drug squads used to stamp out illicit consumption, and as such, penned an open letter to his local member suggesting Splendour In The Grass 2014 be a year without the use of sniffer dogs, as FasterLouder points out.
The premise for McNamee’s argument against dog squads traces back to 2009, when a Kalamunda teen Gemma Thoms swallowed three ecstasy tablets before entering the Big Day Out because she was afraid she’d be caught with the drugs by police and their dog units. The result: Thoms collapsed and was taken to hospital where she died the next day.
Tragically, this has not been the only recent case in Australia, as McNamee points out, 23-year old James Munro too lost his life at West Sydney’s Defqon.1 in 2013.
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The dance-pop artist believes the removal of such a tight grip on drug enforcement would “automatically cut out the number of hospitalisations due to people panicking upon sight of the dogs and ingesting their whole weekend’s supply of drugs.”
Challenging the status quo, he continues, “I urge you to consider a trial whereby the common practice of police officers using drug detection dogs is suspended at this year’s festival, and to compare the amount of hospitalisations that occur.”
Although the musician does not condone such behaviour, he begrudgingly acknowledges that drug use at music festivals is an evil that unfortunately exists. “I’ve seen the use of “ecstasy” (MDMA) in particular increase from a fringe activity practiced by underground party-goers to something widespread and done by accountants, lawyers, doctors, university students – people of all walks of life,” he writes.
From this, McNamee focuses on what he believes a better deterrent from illicit consumption, “people who are allowed to ingest drugs without the fear of a lifetime criminal record will have a new fear: the drug itself.”
“Drug taking is dangerous. The correct dosage, setting, and friend support is vital. Let this be the only thing that people are worried about.”
There’s no question that this is a touchy subject, with many divided on whether this law-enforcing process actually encourages safe partying or only further exacerbates the problem.
Read the full open letter from Art Vs Science’s Dan McNamee to Ballina MP Don Page:
Dear Mr Page,
My name is Daniel McNamee and I play in the music group “Art vs Science”. We’ve been lucky enough to play at Splendour in the Grass 4 times since 2008, and are playing again this year.
I’m sure you have witnessed the increase in illicit drug use in young people – I’m 30 and even in my lifetime I’ve seen the use of “ecstasy” (MDMA) in particular increase from a fringe activity practiced by underground party-goers to something widespread and done by accountants, lawyers, doctors, university students – people of all walks of life.
I think we can both agree that it is a dangerous activity, made all the more so by the manner in which it is produced, procured, and ingested. I have seen this first hand. People being led out of the festival to ambulances, eyes rolling in their heads. Concerned and panicking friends following and being told to try to relax. It’s a horrid sight. This tragedy is all the more tragic because these people are often inexperienced drug users who might wait all year to go to one or two music festivals and ingest these substances there.
I believe the you have the unique opportunity with the upcoming festival to help pass a bill which will trial measures that will, I’m certain, reduce dangerous drug taking practices which lead to these horrible situations.
I urge you to consider a trial whereby the common practice of police officers using drug detection dogs is suspended at this year’s festival, and to compare the amount of hospitalisations that occur.
Please let evidence inform this policy. Automatically you will cut out the number of hospitalisations due to people panicking upon sight of the dogs and ingesting their whole weekend’s supply of drugs. This actually led to the deaths of a young woman at the Perth Big Day Out 2009 and a young man at a festival called Defqon 1 in Sydney’s West last year.
A police presence which focusses on stopping truly anti social behaviour – violence and aggression is all that is needed. People who are allowed to ingest drugs without the fear of a lifetime criminal record will have a new fear: the drug itself. Drug taking is dangerous. The correct dosage, setting, and friend support is vital. Let this be the only thing that people are worried about.
There is a common sentiment in NSW public life that allowing drug taking at festivals would be “an admission of defeat”. It does not have to be this way. We need only look at the data, and take advice from good sources like the 2006 NSW Ombudsman’s Report (attached) and the Australia21 reports on the issue (also attached, should you wish to research the matter further). I personally think it would be wonderful if we enjoyed music and socialised without drugs – alcohol included – but we cannot change people’s minds about drugs through fear alone. The record shows. It doesn’t work. But it does make the setting so much more dangerous for our children.
Best regards,
Dan McNamee
