Alex Turnbull has been running the Rhythm and Alps Music Festival in the Cardrona Valley for eight years and does not consider it has a drug problem.
However, to safeguard the thousands of young people who attend, he would be willing to follow a suggestion by Police Minister Stuart Nash to have all music festivals supplied with testing kits by next summer — provided it was done in a proper manner.
‘‘We’ve been researching this for two years, and it’s going in the right direction.
‘‘We’re looking for the right way for it to be executed and we need to do more due diligence on it.
‘‘There’s still a massive grey area here and if we are going to do it, we need to do it properly.’’
There were no arrests at the three-day Rhythm and Alps festival over new year, and no reports of incidents with drugs.
Mr Turnbull said the media focus on drugs was disappointing.
‘‘We don’t have a drug problem — but who knows?
‘‘There were 10,000 people there.
‘‘The safety of our patrons is our number one priority and we’re lucky we haven’t had any issues yet.’’
The suggestion from Mr Nash has been welcomed by the New Zealand Drug Foundation.
However, foundation executive director Ross Bell has warned the minister that a law change would be needed before drug testing stations become the norm at the bigger festivals.
Mr Nash’s comments come after illicit drugs, which contained traces of pesticide, were obtained by police in Gisborne at the Rhythm and Vine music festival earlier this week.
On Saturday, a man in Australia died after a suspected drug overdose at a festival in New South Wales.
Mr Nash said when it comes to the issue of drugs at music festivals, he wants to see a ‘‘more compassionate and restorative approach’’.
He said drug testing — whereby the chemical makeup and properties of a drug could be assessed before consumption — would be a move towards this approach.
‘‘There are young people that go to these festivals that are taking drugs.
‘‘I think if we continue to say ‘‘yeah, this is a bad thing’’, we’re not going to do anything to help mitigate the risk and we’re going to see people continue to end up in trouble.’’
He is seeking advice on how other countries deal with the issue of drugs at festivals.
At some festivals in Australia, he said, drug hospitalisations dropped by 95% after drug testing was implemented.
He said the Government would work with independent organisations, such as the NZ Drug foundation, which would run the tests.
Mr Bell welcomed Nash’s moves towards making drug testing stations the norm and said they are reasonably common overseas.
But because of the legal risks for some of the bigger festivals, many organisers can’t have the testing stations onsite.
This is because of a clause in the Misuse of Drugs Act — ‘‘if you have a test, you’re admitting there are drugs on the site’’.
The Drug Foundation had done some drug testing at festivals in New Zealand in the past, but the Government is keen to enlist their services for all major festivals in the future.
— Additional reporting by NZME
