The use of illicit drugs should be dealt with like a medical condition rather than a crime, a grieving mother says.
Adriana Buccianti’s 34-year-old son Daniel died in 2012 after taking acid at the Rainbow Serpent Festival in Beaufort, Victoria.
Speaking after the death of Sylvia Choi at Stereosonic music festival in Sydney, Ms Buccianti said governments needed to rethink drug policy.
‘It should be looked at like any other medical condition,’ Ms Buccianti said.
Illicit drugs should be legalised and pill testing introduced at music festivals, she said.
‘If somebody who is well-trusted tells you this substance will kill you, then without having the fear of reprisal, I can bet you my bottom dollar that person wouldn’t take it,’ she said.
‘You charge a person for possession and then what happens, you destroy their life anyway.’
But Victoria-based anti-drug campaigner and former drug addict Kerryn Redpath said legalising party drugs would encourage wider use.
‘That’s kind of saying (taking drugs is) okay,’ she said.
‘Unfortunately when drugs are legal, young people think they must be safe.’
Ms Redpath founded Drug and Alcohol Education Supporting Youth and gives presentations to high school students.
‘I don’t even tell young people, don’t do it,’ she said.
‘I get them to think about it. It’s like playing a game of Russian roulette.
‘That poor 25-year-old pharmacist didn’t know she’d end up dead.’
[“source-skynews”]