Image: Wikimedia Commons

A Groovin The Moo Pill Testing Trial Just Got One Step Closer

Groovin The Moo has moved slightly closer to hosting Australia’s first pill testing trial at a major music festival, after The University Of Canberra threw its support behind the idea.

A proposal to hold a trial at the Canberra leg of Groovin The Moo next month has received the uni’s support, and given the festival will take place on land owned by the ACT Government, there’s a better chance of it going ahead than the failed attempt at getting a trial up and running at last year’s Spilt Milk festival in Canberra’s Commonwealth Park, which was on Federal Government land.

“The University of Canberra is open to supporting a pill-testing trial at a festival held on university grounds, providing the main stakeholders and relevant authorities are all in agreement,” a spokesperson said in a statement to the ABC.

It’s still unclear if the promoter of Groovin The Moo, Cattleyard Promotions, will support the pill testing trial, which was first proposed by the STA-SAFE consortium. Music Feeds has contacted Cattleyard for comment.

Meanwhile, the ACT Government has said it continues to support a pill testing trial.

“The ACT Government supports a controlled trial of pill testing, conducted by an independent consortium, as was proposed for the Spilt Milk Festival last year,” a spokesperson told the ABC.

“The current proposal for Groovin the Moo will undergo the same cross-government evaluation that occurred last year for Spilt Milk, and the relevant working group has been reconvened.”

A proposal to hold a pill testing trial at Spilt Milk Festival 2017 was binned by the festival promoter just weeks before the event took place, despite being backed by the ACT Government, police and health officials.

After the Spilt Milk trial was pulled, STA-SAFE member Doctor David Caldicott disputed the promoter’s reasons for cancelling the trial, suggesting the promoter had been pressured into pulling out.

Groovin The Moo will makes its way through Wayville, Maitland, Canberra, Bendigo, Townsville and Bunbury between April and May.

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