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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says her new government wants to allow more legal testing of pills at music festivals.
His comments come after Justice Minister Andrew Little ruled out further liberalization of drug laws following a preliminary “no” vote on the cannabis referendum.
The pill test allows companies like Know Your Stuff NZ to test illicit drugs at festivals and tell users what they contain. It currently exists in a legal gray zone, and festival hosts are technically liable for prosecution if they knowingly allow a venue for illicit drug use.
STENT / KEVIN THINGS
From left to right, Green Co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson with Labor Leader Jacinda Ardern and Deputy Leader Kelvin Davis formally signed their governing agreement.
NZ First blocked attempts to change the law in the last term, although a solution was finally established with a government-funded pilot plan.
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When asked if the new Labor government could move forward on the issue now that NZ First was no longer on the road, Ardern said yes.
“I would say this is something we can continue. That is a basic security problem. It’s about saving lives, and I think people appreciate it, ”Ardern said.
“This is not about changing the legal framework for those individual drugs, it is about saying that there is actually evidence abroad that these regimes save the lives of young people. And who would we be to get away from that? “
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Many illicit drugs in New Zealand are cut with other substances.
When asked if this could happen before the summer festival season, Ardern said he would have to check if it was feasible, but the workaround found last quarter could certainly be used.
Ardern spoke shortly after signing a “cooperation agreement” with the Green Party, which has long supported pill trials.
The agreement does not have firm political commitments, but the parties have said there is much they could work on together.
National was against pill testing when the topic last came up, saying it sent the wrong message to young people.
“Legalizing the pill test sends the wrong message to young people,” then-leader Simon Bridges said when the issue was last raised.
However, the party’s youth wing supports the legal pill trials.
ACT leader David Seymour has spoken in support of the practice.
