Pill testing. It’s been hogging the media here in Australia for a while now, but at the risk of getting the pro-test groups all bent out of shape, I find myself leaning towards the “No” side because I am still of the belief that people need to be responsible for their own actions, up to and including taking something that they know has the potential to harm or kill them. Like, how hard can that be?
I think the bells began ringing when 15-year-old Anna Woods collapsed and died after taking an Ecstasy pill in 1995. While Anna’s death was tragic, it did sound a warning that perhaps Ecstasy was not the harmless party drug that people had originally thought it was and the media storm that followed revealed the drug could contain all manner of toxic ingredients that could cause nasty side effects, permanent injury and in other cases, death.
Right. That should have been sufficient to cull the number of users, yes? Well, no, it wasn’t. Ecstasy pills and the like have made greater inroads into the Australian drug culture, become synonymous with music and dance festivals and despite the warnings all over the media, the user rate has grown, resulting in more people suffering permanent damage, with the death rate from pill use increasing alarmingly. And this is the bit I don’t get; why would you deliberately ingest something that has your highly possible demise written all over it? It is still a tragedy when people do and die as a result, but no one can claim today that they bought the pills in ignorance. We all know they are toxic. We all know they are very bad news. So why would anyone be stupid enough to take the risk?
Well firstly, there’s the silly supposition of “It won’t happen to me.” Sorry, but it so will. “Everyone else is taking them!” Really? So that’s a good reason? Every user that has either dropped dead or been left permanently damaged from taking these pills no doubt thought exactly the same thing, assuming they gave it any thought at all and once you have taken one bad pill, that’s it. For you, anyway.
And now we have the blame game. Responsibility and consequences, appear to have become dirty words unless they can be attributed to someone or something else. In the case of the dangerous pills being hawked around the festival circuit, it’s “the government’s fault” which takes personal responsibility right out of the equation. Except it doesn’t. Right now, in NSW, the pro-pill testing groups are blaming the government and in particular, the NSW Premier, for the death of every fool who plays Russian Roulette with a pill, and loses, because she has said no to pill testing booths at festivals and the like. Well, sorry to rain on their parade and all, but the blame doesn’t lay with either. It is not up to the government to hold your hand. The blame lays squarely with the user who, despite all the health warnings about these pills, still opts to buy them and use them. If they die as a result, the fault is theirs and theirs alone. I understand that this won’t go down well with the pro-pill testing lot, but I don’t care. It’s time someone spoke up and dumped the facts on them. Festival organisers can’t be held responsible either. They already have a police presence at their events, and sniffer dogs. What else would you have them do? The government has made all the information about the dangers of these pills readily available. What else should they be expected to do?
If you are old enough to attend a festival, you are old enough to take responsibility for your own health and safety, and that’s the bottom line. If you opt not to buy/use the pills, I congratulate you for using some common sense regarding your life but should you decide to take them, then it’s unlikely you are reading this because you died. If you died, it’s on you, hon, no one else.
Seriously, you need to wake up!