NEWS 23.07.2009 WA - No more drug bins: police

drug_mentor said:

I have a sneaking suspicion that these drug bins were nothing more than a sneaky way to try and remove the blame from police/sniffer dogs for that girl who died.

It is a pretty good plan actually, set up bins but patrol them with cops so nobody uses them and then after a few months they can say that it made no difference and it was all her fault.

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Police scrap concert drug bins
24th July 2009, 6:00 WST

Drug disposal bins outside concerts would be scrapped after a trial found they were ineffective and a waste of resources, Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan said yesterday.

Introduced after the death of Kalamunda teenager Gemma Thoms, who collapsed at the Big Day Out festival in February after taking several ecstasy tablets, the amnesty bins allowed people to discard drugs without penalty before entering a concert.

But Mr O’Callaghan said few illicit drugs were dumped in the bins outside the Rock It, V and Trance Energy festivals and paramedics had not seen a fall in the number of drug-affected concert-goers needing treatment.

“We thought we would give it a go as a preventative strategy but we know that it really hasn’t made much difference to the number of drug charges or the number of presentations to St John Ambulance at these concerts,” Mr O’Callaghan said.

He said managing the bins was not a good use of police resources.

Only five ecstasy, one dexamphetamine and five diazepam tablets and 0.5g of cannabis were left in the bins after the three concerts.

Other revellers treated the bins as a joke, dumping laxatives, headache tablets and packets of flour, gelatine and baking powder.

Police and sniffer dogs caught 21 people with drugs at the Rock It and Trance Energy festivals despite the presence of amnesty bins.

WA Youth Affairs Council executive officer Lisa Laschon said young people had supported the use of the bins and the council was disappointed they would be scrapped.

“We saw it from the perspective of educating young people and giving them choices,” she said.

“We thought it was positive for police to send a message that they’d be willing to prevent rather than prosecute.”

Mr O’Callaghan said under the Misuse of Drugs Act, only police were allowed to handle any illicit drugs left in the bins.

He said if organisations such as the Youth Affairs Council or the Drug and Alcohol Office wanted to manage the bins, he could talk to the Government about changing laws to allow it.

But the idea is unlikely to get the Government’s support. In March, Premier Colin Barnett criticised the trial, saying harm minimisation had been a failure. Mr Barnett said the message should be clear that people should not use drugs or take them to public events.

Acting Premier Kim Hames reiterated yesterday that the Government believed the use of bins sent the wrong message to the community.

Mr O’Callaghan said police would still use sniffer dogs to detect drugs at music festivals.

GABRIELLE KNOWLES

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Police say drug bin trial 'satisfactory'



Fleur Bainger

March 09, 2009 03:00pm

DRUG bins are likely to become a regular feature at Perth's music festivals, despite being used by only a handful of revellers at yesterday's Rock-It festival.
Commander for the Metropolitan Region, Brian Cunningham, described the initiative as “satisfactory” after only 10 arrests were made for drug related offenses. Sniffer dogs stopped 164 people but the majority were released.

Read Rock-It concert review Read Rock-It concert review

Commander Cunningham wouldn’t reveal the quantity of drugs that was collected in the bins, describing the haul as “a small amount” including ecstasy, cannabis and dexamphetamine.

A number of bright blue wheelie bins were placed at the concert entry gates to encourage drug disposal without consequences, after the death of Kalamunda teenager Gemma Thoms, who overdosed on three ecstasy tablets at the Big Day Out in February.

Gemma swallowed the tablets while waiting in the queue to avoid detection by sniffer dogs.

The bins were criticised for their prominent placement at the concert entrance, in full view of officers and sniffer dogs, who were only 20 metres away.

Commander Cunningham denied officers were watching the bins, but said that Sunday’s trial was the first of three, and that it was likely changes would be made.

“We haven’t got it right, this is something new,” he said.

He said police would be evaluating bin location, colour and even the presence of sniffer dogs. “There are a number of tactics we can use in the future.”

He said there was no evidence people were taking drugs in the queue but said there were people who had taken drugs prior to arriving at the event, and others who took drugs during the concert.

The bins will be used again at the V festival, to be held at the Claremont Showgrounds on April 5. Police would not reveal which concerts would be targeted in the future.

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hyroller said:

well thank god they thought to can that rubbish idea.

literally & metaphorically speaking.

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Damien said:

Where is the personal responsibility?

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maloxx said:

no shit, I don't think that she had to die but if she was stupid enough to take large amounts of ecstasy and "hope for the best" well, its definitely her fault, the cops didn't force her to take the pills, (although they did tighten her options) she could have easily dropped one or two onto the ground, or better yet found some other concert goers who would have liked the ecstasy

on a different note, I don't know to much about ecstasy but it doesn't sound normal to OD on 3 pills, they would have had to be pretty high strength right?

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