Victoria Police Reportedly Amping Up Drug-Busting Efforts For Juicy Fest In Melbourne

According to a new report, Victoria Police will target this week’s Melbourne (Naarm) edition of Juicy Fest, amping up their drug-busting efforts in response to last weekend’s chaos at the Hardmission festival.

The latter festival ran on Saturday January 6 at Flemington Racecourse, and reportedly resulted in nine people (four women, including a teenager, and three men) being rushed to hospital in critical condition as a result of illicit drug use; as of this past Monday (January 8), three of those people were said to be fighting for their lives.

In response to the incidents, VicPol are reportedly looking to increase police presence, and the presence of sniffer dogs, at Juicy Fest on Friday (January 12). That’s according to The Age, at least, who received the tip from an anonymous source; while VicPol themselves refused to name the festival, they did confirm they’d be cracking down on drug users at an upcoming music festival, all the details for which line up with Juicy Fest.

“Victoria Police will not tolerate any behaviour that compromises the public’s safety and will also have an increased presence at a music festival this week in Flemington on 12 January,” a police spokeswoman said yesterday (January 9), per The Age. “Police want people to have a good time and attendees should watch out for their mates to ensure everyone has a safe festival experience, and for anyone intending to take illicit drugs, we simply say, ‘Don’t do it.’”

Following last weekend’s mass overdose at Hardmission, key political figures have reignited the debate on whether pill testing should be implemented at festivals on a wide scale; Queensland and the ACT are leading the pack when it comes to trialling pill testing initiatives, which aim to reduce harm by allowing punters to have illicit substances analysed before being taken (without judgement from those involved or risk of punishment).

While pill testing has proven to be an effective method of harm reduction, Victorian premier Jacinta Allan is staunchly against it. “If people are concerned about substances, don’t consume it. There’s a personal responsibility here as well,” she’s said. “That’s the way to stay out of hospital, that’s how to stay out of the intensive care ward, is to not take substances in the first place.”

Greens leader Aiv Puglielli (who also works as the party’s spokesman for drug harm reduction) fought back against Allan’s sentiment. He argued that VicPol’s plan to increase the presence of police and sniffer dogs, but not even humour the concept of pill testing, was “a pathetic response” and “the exact opposite of what we should be doing to protect young Victorians”.

The timing here is ironic, too, given it was just days ago that Victorian state parliament exposed VicPol’s shitty job at cracking down on drug use at festivals; newly released data shows that in more than half of the cases where punters were searched at music festivals, no drugs were found.

Dr Peta Malins, a senior lecturer in criminology and justice studies at RMIT University, voiced concerns about the effectiveness of sniffer dogs, stating, "They're not effective, they don't deter people, and they actually increase harm.” She suggested that individuals may resort to unsafe drug practices, such as preloading or hiding substances when faced with the presence of police dogs.

Nevertheless, Juicy Fest will go ahead as planned this Friday at Melbourne Showgrounds, with a lineup featuring the likes of T-Pain, Ashanti, T.I. and YG. This year’s edition of the festival has already been fraught with controversy, facing lineup dramas just hours before the tour kicked off, and devolving into a mess of arrests and gang presence at the Wellington, New Zealand date.