Hans Lovejoy, editor
Hello, young and impressionable person. Wassup.
With many of you coming to the area to enjoy Splendour in the Grass this week, let’s talk about something perhaps your parents, teachers, and preachers have not broached – drugs!
It’s something to consider while you amble past the festival’s massive booze barns on your way to see your favourite act.
So – MDMA, or as it is also called, ecstasy. Its chemical name is 3, 4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine.
We rely on governments to make informed decisions about drug harm-minimisation laws, yet they actually do the opposite.
It’s unclear if those who write bad laws around drugs want young people to die as an example to others. So far, that’s been the result. These politicians – National and Liberal Party politicians mostly – also have connections to the big pharma, booze, and tobacco industries. It’s a big exclusive drug club.
Tragically, 19-year-old Alex Ross-King died from a drug overdose at the FOMO music festival in Parramatta last January. Her family are pleading for pill testing. There have been other recent deaths at festivals too, and they are the subject of a NSW coronial inquiry.
The Coroner has been reported as saying that the presence of police at the festival appeared to be a direct cause for Ross-King’s decision to ‘double dose’ or ‘double drop’. That is, taking more than one pill at once. It’s something counsel assisting the inquest, Peggy Dwyer, said was a common occurrence.
So at the very least, an amnesty bin at festival entrances is desperately needed, so that punters don’t freak out at the cops and swallow unknown pills, thus endangering their lives.
If the government cared about your wellbeing, they would introduce pill testing and amnesty bins like they have in Europe.
Is MDMA safe? Yes, if taken moderately and in a pure form, just like heroin. Pure MDMA has therapeutic benefits, particularly among people with PTSD, depression, and other behavioural issues.
The Godfather of MDMA is Dr Alexander Shulgin. He wrote a book with his wife Ann in 1991 called Phenethylamines I Have Known And Loved (PIHKAL). It details a number of the author’s ‘trips’ on various psychedelic compounds. He died at 88 after what appears a long and healthy life.
The same goes for Swiss scientist Albert Hoffman, the inventor of LSD. He died at 103 and had no detectable health issues after exploring psychotropics for decades.
If you still want to experiment but are not prepared for a life as a psychonaught scientist, it’s best to try a small dosage of any pill first, and be very careful from whom you buy it.
And ask your local state and federal politician what they are doing about pill testing and amnesty bins. Politicians need to be held to account for their lack of duty of care in this area.
It’s human nature to experiment, no matter what ignorant politicans say. Mushrooms, peyote, iboga, and ayahuasca have all contributed to human evolution, and when done in a safe environment, it can open the doors of perception.
Have a safe Splendour and don’t believe the mass-media hype!
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
