Image via Sugar Mountain
Festival goers beware! Victorian Police could now have the power to stop and search festival goers without any reason.
Currently, police need to have ‘reasonable suspicion’ in order to search someone, however changes are currently being considered by the state government and, naturally, it’s got people in quite a stir.
While speaking with the Sunday Herald Sun, Victorian Police Minister Lisa Neville said: “As a parent, I wouldn’t want someone telling my son that this drug is safe when it can’t be guaranteed. I’d like to prevent drugs from being purchased altogether in those situations.”
The harm minimisation and rights awareness group High Alert took to social media to vent their frustrations on the matter, writing: “We’re now at the point of straight-up taking people’s legal rights away from them. I doubt this policy was informed by evidence or any health, social, drug & alcohol expert. When excessive force is used to attempt to squash a problem, unintended, and potentially worse, consequences are seen.”
Emergency medical specialist and harm minimisation advocate Dr David Caldicott raised an excellent point in saying that “Doubling down on dumb. I’m calling it – this will increase overdoses at music festivals.”
Not the best news to start the week, particularly from a state that is eager to promote pill testing at it’s festivals. Stay safe people!
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