The Victorian Greens have called on the Premier to ensure that police sniffer dog squads are not present during the summer festival season, as it's announced that Beyond the Valley will be the first festival with life-saving pill testing services.
The Police Commissioner confirmed that sniffer dogs would be expected to operate alongside pill testing at festivals, following a line of questioning from the Greens at the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) hearings last week.
The Victorian Greens spokesperson for drug harm reduction, Aiv Puglielli says that festival-goers deserve clarity and reassurance that they're not going to be targeted by police and sniffer dogs for using a life saving health service.
As stated by The Victorian Greens Drug Harm Reduction spokesperson, Aiv Puglielli:
"The Summer festival season is just around the corner and we know that we need pill testing up and running in order to save lives.
"For pill testing to work, festival goers need confidence to use this life saving service without fear of being targeted by police and sniffer dogs.
"The Premier needs to pick up the phone to the Police Commissioner and ensure young people and festival goers have clarity and reassurance about how police will be interacting with pill testing and the people using the service.
"We know that people are likely to drop all their drugs at once when they see sniffer dogs. That is not safe.
"Sniffer dogs do not save lives, pill testing does."
