Drug Amnesty Bin Has Officially Joined Sydney’s Huge NYE In The Park Line-Up

The NSW Government will reportedly operate drug amnesty bins at Sydney’s upcoming NYE In The Park festival, marking the first time punters in the state will be allowed to legally discard illicit substances without facing sniffer dogs and the risk of a strip search.

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The Daily Telegraph reports two amnesty bins at the Camperdown event will allow attendees to palm off any illegal drugs they have in their possession, and that NSW Police have agreed not to hassle anyone who chucks stuff in.

In a statement obtained by the paper, a NSW Police spokesperson said the bins will be “placed outside the area of the police operation and officers will be directed not to patrol or interact with the bins,” hopefully meaning that anyone walking to the site won’t be hassled, either.

The bins will have private seccies around them though, so don’t get any heisty ideas here.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the bin system earlier this month in response to a coronial investigation into the drug-related deaths of six young people at NSW music festivals.

The bins seem designed to minimise so-called ‘panic ingestion’, where punters ingest their entire stash at once to avoid potential detection by sniffer dogs and any criminal charges which may follow.

While the coroner’s report clearly made the case for stronger harm minimisation protections, like pill testing services at music festivals, Berejiklian rejected the many of the most progressive – and most important – recommendations.

NYE In The Park 2019 features acts like Hermitude, Girl Talk, Safia, and Client Liaison. Thanks to the NSW Government’s 12-month trial, it looks like they’ll share top billing with a bin.

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