Street Drug-Fueled Incidents at Mt Smart Stadium Concert the Result of the Prohibition of Safer Alternatives

There are concerns of a dangerous new street drug after drug fueled incidents occurred at a dance concert at Mt Smart stadium on Saturday night. Concert goers have reported multiple drug fueled incidents including people climbing on top of the roof of what has been described as New Zealand's largest ever marquee tent. The crowd has been described as violent, dancing weird and erratic and extremely out of it with revelers chewing and grinding their jaws and foaming at the mouth. 5 people were hospitalized including 3 who were taken to hospital in a critical condition.

The above scenario sounds all too familiar and has indeed been happening more and more since the prohibition of first MDMA, then later also all other legal party pills.

With no safer legal alternatives available, young people looking for party kicks are left with one option: Illicit Street Drugs.

The problem with Illicit Street drugs is that they are unregulated. There are no age limits, no quality controls and no rules regarding allowed ingredients and maximum strength.

It is common for the ingredients and strength to change from batch to batch. What provided a nice euphoric stimulation one week may blow your head off, ruin your night or even kill you the next.

The harms around Illicit Street Drugs could be massively reduced if the government would simply allow for safer, legal alternatives to be sold in a strictly regulated manner.

Substances such as MDMA or even Magic Mushrooms and LSD are extremely safe if taken in the correct dosage. If these or similar less harmful substances were legalized and strictly regulated and sold under the PSA (Psychoactive Substances Act) this would greatly reduce both Illicit Street Drug use in New Zealand as well as the associated harms to both the party drug users and to society as a whole.

Until this law reform happens, if you do plan on using Illicit Street Drugs, you would be wise to get a street-drug test kit so you at least have some idea of what you may be consuming. It could save your life.

Meanwhile we'll all waste a few more years debating on whether we should allow drug testing stalls at festivals and events. Its a no brainer, of course we should, but with legal MDMA the need for testing is also eliminated.

What would you prefer your kids were consuming: 1) a safe legal social tonic made in an approved laboratory, or 2) a cocktail of research chemicals imported from China and cooked up in some numbskulls bathtub?

Source: NZ Herald