So-
let’s work through this statement methodically, and see if we can find any persistent errors of science or interpretation, despite the EXTENSIVE detail available in the Inquiry itself.
[spoiler- we can, and there’s a few, so stay with me...]
let’s work through this statement methodically, and see if we can find any persistent errors of science or interpretation, despite the EXTENSIVE detail available in the Inquiry itself.
[spoiler- we can, and there’s a few, so stay with me...]
1/
We start with ‘The Message’- not so much a scientific fact as such, but an assumption.
Here the assumption is not even stated, but just implied, to suggest that ‘The Message’ that is provided by #pilltesting is presumably ‘a bad thing’.
By keeping it vague, we can avoid the...
We start with ‘The Message’- not so much a scientific fact as such, but an assumption.
Here the assumption is not even stated, but just implied, to suggest that ‘The Message’ that is provided by #pilltesting is presumably ‘a bad thing’.
By keeping it vague, we can avoid the...
2/
need to be corrected- because corrected one would be. The Message of #pilltesting is actually that we value the lives of young Australians above all things, & esp. above an ideology that is not only failing them, but causing them harm. If that is off-piste, guilty as charged.
need to be corrected- because corrected one would be. The Message of #pilltesting is actually that we value the lives of young Australians above all things, & esp. above an ideology that is not only failing them, but causing them harm. If that is off-piste, guilty as charged.
3/
#pilltesting provides no ‘false confidence’ to anyone, and here at @pilltestingaus we challenge anyone to substantiate that allegation. From the moment a patron approaches, we tell them that if they want to be a 100% safe from drug-related harm today, they should probably...
#pilltesting provides no ‘false confidence’ to anyone, and here at @pilltestingaus we challenge anyone to substantiate that allegation. From the moment a patron approaches, we tell them that if they want to be a 100% safe from drug-related harm today, they should probably...
4/
not use any drugs today. We may have clarified this, oh, only a bajillion times in the last few years, and to misrepresent it is at best misinformed, and at worst, dishonest.
Literally no-one in the world is saying that #pilltesting works by just identifying contaminants...
not use any drugs today. We may have clarified this, oh, only a bajillion times in the last few years, and to misrepresent it is at best misinformed, and at worst, dishonest.
Literally no-one in the world is saying that #pilltesting works by just identifying contaminants...
5/
and to suggest that they are, reveals a deep and fundamentally flawed understanding, or again, misrepresentation, of the whole process. #Pilltesting works to reduce many drug related harms- including when patrons get what they have been sold.
Read Valente et al (2019).
and to suggest that they are, reveals a deep and fundamentally flawed understanding, or again, misrepresentation, of the whole process. #Pilltesting works to reduce many drug related harms- including when patrons get what they have been sold.
Read Valente et al (2019).
6/
#pilltesting can, & does, change the behaviour of those who are told that their drugs contain only MDMA, in such a way as to reduce harms. For example, many people moderate their consumption after a chat with our experts. Many choose not to mix their drugs- tactics that all...
#pilltesting can, & does, change the behaviour of those who are told that their drugs contain only MDMA, in such a way as to reduce harms. For example, many people moderate their consumption after a chat with our experts. Many choose not to mix their drugs- tactics that all...
7/
...reduce harms. To suggest otherwise is to either not understand how #pilltesting works, or to be prepared to be dishonest about it.
The technology is more than adequate globally, and can certainly measure dose. You don’t even need to be scientifically literate, or have...
...reduce harms. To suggest otherwise is to either not understand how #pilltesting works, or to be prepared to be dishonest about it.
The technology is more than adequate globally, and can certainly measure dose. You don’t even need to be scientifically literate, or have...
8/
..access to the literature to see that- you just need the ABCs iViewer to watch Foreign Correspondent from Zurich, showing how our collaborators and colleagues are doing it there.
I’m not even a professional detective, and I’ve been able to find it!
..access to the literature to see that- you just need the ABCs iViewer to watch Foreign Correspondent from Zurich, showing how our collaborators and colleagues are doing it there.
I’m not even a professional detective, and I’ve been able to find it!
10/
The peak body of analytical chemists in Australia, FACTA, has agreed to collaborate with with @pilltestingaus- and others- to ensure that the best analytical approach can be taken. Would they do that if they believed it ‘wasn’t possible’? Would anyone know better?
The peak body of analytical chemists in Australia, FACTA, has agreed to collaborate with with @pilltestingaus- and others- to ensure that the best analytical approach can be taken. Would they do that if they believed it ‘wasn’t possible’? Would anyone know better?
11/
The testing method is a tried and trusted approach used globally for decades. The Commissioner & I are both of an age when we might soon need a prostate biopsy- it comes to us all! They too, ‘can’ miss prostate cancer- but that is not an argument against doing them if needed.
The testing method is a tried and trusted approach used globally for decades. The Commissioner & I are both of an age when we might soon need a prostate biopsy- it comes to us all! They too, ‘can’ miss prostate cancer- but that is not an argument against doing them if needed.
12/
These are the ‘critical flaws’ cited in the police statement.
The more astute reader will have noticed that there are more words in this statement devoted to alleging that which demonstrably, factually, untrue, than there are words combined to describe facts.
And that is sad.
These are the ‘critical flaws’ cited in the police statement.
The more astute reader will have noticed that there are more words in this statement devoted to alleging that which demonstrably, factually, untrue, than there are words combined to describe facts.
And that is sad.
13/
One doesn’t rise to the highest ranks of law enforcement by being incapable of interpreting facts.
The inescapable conclusion is that this issue has become so politicised in NSW that even good men can be pushed into taking public positions that have no bearing on reality.
One doesn’t rise to the highest ranks of law enforcement by being incapable of interpreting facts.
The inescapable conclusion is that this issue has become so politicised in NSW that even good men can be pushed into taking public positions that have no bearing on reality.
14/
That is terribly sad for healthcare, every bit as sad as the attempts that were made to intimidate the Deputy Coroner over a leaked version of the Inquiry- the source of which remains curiously unidentified.
The position taken here not only flies in the face of...
That is terribly sad for healthcare, every bit as sad as the attempts that were made to intimidate the Deputy Coroner over a leaked version of the Inquiry- the source of which remains curiously unidentified.
The position taken here not only flies in the face of...
15/
The Inquiry itself, but of the opinion of now over a dozen peak medical bodies in Australia.
This is no longer a case of who might be right, and who might be wrong. This is a case of how history will judge those involved in this debate.
From here in Dublin, in the early hours
The Inquiry itself, but of the opinion of now over a dozen peak medical bodies in Australia.
This is no longer a case of who might be right, and who might be wrong. This is a case of how history will judge those involved in this debate.
From here in Dublin, in the early hours
16/ of a stormy night, the weather does not look good for those prepared to put politics before people.
‘Night night.
‘Night night.
