<description>&lt;p&gt;Drugs and music festivals have gone hand-in-hand for decades. In recent years &amp;ndash; especially since a string of overdoses &amp;ndash; authorities have employed various strategies to try to curb drug use and avoid tragedies from occurring at festivals around the country.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Depending on where festivals are held, music lovers have been subjected to various degrees of intervention &amp;ndash; from having to run the gauntlet of sniffer dogs to intrusive strip searches.&lt;a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/music/days-of-going-through-a-gauntlet-of-police-lined-with-drug-dogs-are-over-says-a-top-cop-20260518-p5zyan.html?utm_source=omny&amp;amp;utm_medium=podcast_notes&amp;amp;utm_campaign=the_morning_edition&amp;amp;utm_content=&amp;amp;utm_term=newsroom"&gt; That is now changing.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Today, culture reporter Kayla Olaya discusses the 3000 people who sued NSW Police last year over the legality of strip searches, plus we look at recent changes to the policing of drug use at large, live music events.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Background reading&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/music/days-of-going-through-a-gauntlet-of-police-lined-with-drug-dogs-are-over-says-a-top-cop-20260518-p5zyan.html?utm_source=omny&amp;amp;utm_medium=podcast_notes&amp;amp;utm_campaign=the_morning_edition&amp;amp;utm_content=&amp;amp;utm_term=newsroom"&gt;Days of &amp;lsquo;going through a gauntlet of police lined with drug dogs&amp;rsquo; are over, says a top cop.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://subscribe.smh.com.au/" rel="payment"&gt;Subscribe to The Age &amp; SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener"&gt;omnystudio.com/listener&lt;/a&gt; for privacy information.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

The Morning Edition

The Age and Sydney Morning Herald

Why the era of sniffer dogs at music festivals could be over

MAY 25, 202621 MIN
The Morning Edition

Why the era of sniffer dogs at music festivals could be over

MAY 25, 202621 MIN

Description

Drugs and music festivals have gone hand-in-hand for decades. In recent years – especially since a string of overdoses – authorities have employed various strategies to try to curb drug use and avoid tragedies from occurring at festivals around the country.Depending on where festivals are held, music lovers have been subjected to various degrees of intervention – from having to run the gauntlet of sniffer dogs to intrusive strip searches. That is now changing.Today, culture reporter Kayla Olaya discusses the 3000 people who sued NSW Police last year over the legality of strip searches, plus we look at recent changes to the policing of drug use at large, live music events. Background reading Days of ‘going through a gauntlet of police lined with drug dogs’ are over, says a top cop. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.