The Victorian government is being urged to reassess its stance on pill-testing after the death of a man from a suspected drug overdose at a weekend music festival.
The 23-year-old was airlifted in a critical condition to the Alfred hospital in Melbourne from Mafeking near Ararat, in the state’s south-west, in the early hours of Sunday but later died.
Two other men aged in their 30s and 40s were reportedly also taken in a stable condition to East Grampians Health Service suffering suspected overdoses.
The Pitch Music and Arts festival was subsequently cancelled due to dangerous heatwave conditions and extreme fire danger.
The Victorian Greens said the man’s death should be a trigger for the premier, Jacinta Allan, to “shift gears and finally set up pill-testing”.
“While this Labor government continues to stall, young Victorian lives are being put at risk,” party spokesperson Aiv Puglielli said in a statement on Monday.
“Even with pure MDMA we’ve seen how extreme heat can deal a deadly blow. So with untested drugs circulating, this was truly a disaster waiting to happen.”
Puglilli said the government could not afford to delay pill-testing any longer.
“It’s taking an already dangerous situation and turning it lethal.”
The Greens said if further overdose deaths were to be prevented, pill-testing needed to be established on-site at music festivals as a matter of urgency.