Today, there's been an announcement that the Government has pledged nearly $4 million over three years towards the costs of delivering drug checking services, and delivering harm reduction advice to keep young people safe this summer. Health Minister Andrew Little says it’s all about harm reduction. It’s to stop people taking a substance without knowing what’s really in it. 

The rationale for drug testing is obvious. It’s all about harm prevention.  

The obvious and arguably old school objection is that if these drugs are illegal then people shouldn’t be using them anyway- whatever choice you make, that’s on you.  

But I think that when the technology is there, we should at least be pragmatic and take whatever steps we can to make sure that people are safe this summer.  

In the end, the issue is really 100 percent harm reduction regardless of the rights or wrongs of taking drugs, which have the potential to do great harm in the event of getting the wrong substance or dose. Obviously, the broader question is- why the hell do people need to take drugs just to get high?

At least with alcohol, you have something of a gastronomic and refreshment aspect around consuming it, which in its own right is quite satisfying. Nothing like a cold beer on a hot day, as they say. With alcohol, we also have plenty of information and ability to moderate our intake of alcohol because we know exactly what we’re drinking.  

To be honest, I’ve never understood the need to get high to have a good time, and maybe there are also discussions to be had around the self-esteem of young people. Or perhaps it's just that the music at these festivals is so atrocious that you have to be off your face to actually find anything good about it.

Another way to look at this is maybe not to look at it from the perspective of criticising young people at a distance. Imagine what protections you would want in place if the young people going to the festival were members of your family, your brothers, sisters, sons and daughters, or grandchildren.  

For me, the first port of call would be to tell my daughters that no matter what the substance is, they are illicit and illegal for a reason. Those conversations and the work on that needs to take place a lot earlier in encouraging your children to form healthy relationships with a good circle of friends and good self-esteem, where they don’t have to lean on the crutch of getting high in order to feel that they can relax and have a good time.  

Easier said than done, but in the event that they succumb to the temptations of peer pressure or whatever, I think it’s a no-brainer.

The first and last question has to be about keeping our young people safe this summer, whether it be in the water, on the roads, or listening to bad music in the heaving hell holes of summer music festivals. 

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