New research into drug-related deaths at music festivals found that 64 people died across the country from July 2000 until the end of 2019.

The Drug-Related Deaths at Australian Music Festivals report was released after a mass overdose at Naarm/Melbourne’s Hardmission Festival on January 6, renewing calls for pill testing to be made legal in Victoria and New South Wales.

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After promising reforms, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has spent the last six months reneging on his drug law reform election promises, including to hold a drug summit. He has ruled out pill testing.

The new study “aimed to determine the frequency of deaths involving alcohol and other drugs at music festivals in Australia and to identify potential risk factors that may inform future harm reduction strategies”.

The five researchers found that the drug-related deaths were “potentially preventable” if harm reduction interventions, such as drug-checking services, had been available. The majority of festival deaths were attributable to MDMA toxicity.

The report outlined that drug use among festival-goers is “disproportionately high compared with the general population”. It said that drug-related harms at such events are “not uncommon”.

Polysubstance use — the use of a number of........

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