Drug & Alcohol Clinician Calls For Sniffer Dogs To Be Banned From Festivals

A Brisbane drug and alcohol clinician – and musician – has called for sniffer dogs to be removed from festivals as the debate over substance use at festivals gathers steam.

Police dog operations have been increasing in prominence around Australia, and punters have been arrested at Soundwave, Laneway and Field Day events in recent months. Geoff Corbett, frontman of SixFtHick for 20 years, has spent 15 years working in the mental health and 'alcohol and other drugs' sector and says sniffer dogs do more harm than good.

Speaking to The Music’s Steve Bell he said, “I’m like anyone who views it from a public health level – it’s just wrong.

“It’s just asking for trouble. What really are they looking to prevent? If you’re looking to prevent mortality and morbidity amongst festival goers then it hasn’t really been that effective – I’d be more concerned about people pre-loading before going to a festival than I would be about busting someone with a couple of pills.

“In regards to festivals I’d be looking at things like giving people access to pill reports, so people actually know if what they’re taking has a warning attached to it – that’s far more helpful than having cops out the front with drug dogs. I’m not into it.”

Another issue surrounding illicit substances is the possibility of decriminalisation and Corbett believes it’s something that the authorities should look seriously at.

“Me personally, I’m all for it. I don’t see substance use as an issue of law and order, it’s a public health issue,” he said.

“With decriminalisation, if we were to look at a model to take the Australian drug treatment regime in a new direction I think Portugal is a pretty good one, in that there’s decriminalistaion to a point – for personal use etcetera it’s okay, and if you come in contact with the law a few times then you’re transitioned towards treatment rather than put in a jail. Things like trafficking and high level dealing are still outlawed which is fine, but at least at a user level people aren’t being punished for what is essentially a health issue.

“It frees up the cops to chase the ‘baddies’.”

Decriminalisation is likely to face stiff opposition from sectors of society, but Corbett points to international examples to say “Society there hasn’t fallen apart – it’s the complete opposite”.

“People will always be crying, ‘What about the children? What about the kids? If drugs are decriminialised they’re going to be paving the streets with them!’ and that’s just been shown to not be that case.

“In countries like The Netherlands where they have a fairly laidback approach to substances compared to countries where it’s prohibited, the ages of ‘drug maturity’ are actually older in countries where there’s prohibition. Basically that means that kids grow out of it earlier in countries where they can access it easier. And they don’t necessarily access it either, just the window where they’re using is much smaller.”

Contraband at festivals is at the forefront of music news, with an Australian start-up company encouraging punter to smuggle alcohol into events.

Geoff Corbett spoke at last night's Q Music Presents Drugs, Addiction & Music panel in Brisbane