More than 50,000 music fans kicked off the festival season this weekend alongside a high-visibility police operation involving drug detection dogs.
Crowds rushed to the Listen Out festival in Centennial Park, Knockout festival in Sydney Olympic Park and Heaps Gay Street Party in Marrickville as the mercury hit 33 degrees in parts of Sydney, promoting health warnings from drug safety advocates.
A run-in with drug sniffer dogs at the Listen Out festival, positioned just after the entrance, left 19-year-old Mikayla Burley “shaken”.
She said she was patted down by a female officer who was “blunt and rude”. She did not have drugs on her.
“I’m new to festivals and this wasn’t a nice start,” she said.
Listen Out festivalgoers Sean Stanley, Pj Faleafaga, Jeremy Durand and Adrien Vaurey said they supported police, but wanted the focus to shift away from criminalising drugs. Credit: Dean Sewell
There were 156 police contracted, as required by NSW law, by the festival for security and crowd control, and another 116 police for law enforcement, along with four sniffer dogs.
Police have the power to strip-search anyone they suspect has illicit drugs, including following a positive indication by the sniffer dogs.
Crowds at the Listen Out festival on Saturday. Credit: Dean Sewell.
Many festivalgoers spoken to by The Sun-Herald said they supported police being at the festival – but believed the focus on catching drug users and use of sniffer dogs was misplaced.
Sean Stanley was forced to leave a festival several years ago after a false drug dog indication. He was strip-searched and made to leave, despite not having drugs on him.
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“It was a big buzzkill, [and it] ruined my whole event … just because of a suspicion. There was no valid reason for it,” he said.
His friend, Pj Faleafaga, said he understood police played an important role, but their presence was overkill.
“People are here to have fun and enjoy, and they shouldn’t be so harsh. Safety first, but there’s a limit.”
A coroner’s report into the deaths of six festivalgoers between December 2017 and January 2019 recommended scrapping sniffer dogs at festivals, while the 2019 ice inquiry recommended implementing pill testing and drug decriminalisation to minimise drug-related harm.
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NSW Premier Chris Minns has promised to hold a drug summit within the government’s first term, but is yet to announce any details.
He has ruled out implementing any drug reform until after the summit.
Across Listen Out and Knockout Outdoor festivals last year, 18 attendees were taken to hospital for suspected drug overdoses, while 74 people were arrested for drug possession and four for supplying illegal substances.
Last week NSW Health issued a warning about high-dose MDMA tablets stamped with a Gucci logo with a dose of 414 milligrams – four times higher than the average ecstasy tablet circulating in NSW.
Police patrol on bikes and speak to festivalgoers at Listen Out. Credit: Dean Sewell
Chief executive of drug reform advocacy charity Unharm Will Tregoning warned highly potent, untested pills coupled with heat across summer could be fatal.
“MDMA can make the body heat up and people’s organs fail,” he said.
“Heat in combination with taking untested substances is dangerous and deadly. This isn’t hypothetical – this is fact.”
