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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Adeshola Ore

Calls for nationwide pill testing after suspected MDMA overdoses at Melbourne music festival

A paramedic with their ambulance in Melbourne.
Of nine people transported by ambulance from the Hardmission festival held at Flemington racecourse on Saturday, eight were placed in medically induced comas. Photograph: Luis Ascui/AAP

The suspected MDMA overdoses at a Melbourne music festival that left eight young people in medically induced comas over the weekend has sparked renewed calls for nationwide pill-testing programs.

Harm reduction and social justice advocates, and the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA), were among those urging state governments to legalise pill-testing, saying the scale of the overdoses highlight the urgency of the issue.

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