A VICTORIAN politician has slammed police for drug testing motorists at the weekend’s Mardi Grass rally in Nimbin, claiming it encouraged people to drink instead.
Sex Party MP Fiona Patten also criticised NSW police minister Troy Grant for allowing the town to become “a police state” over the three days of the rally.
Ms Patten said she drove to Nimbin, 100km southwest of the Gold Coast, in a camper van on Friday and was outraged when her colleague was breathalysed at 11am.
She said they were only saved from a drug test because they “looked like a couple of grey nomads”.
“The police were told to form a ring around Nimbin and block all the roads in and out and to saliva-test all people driving into the town for evidence that they had used marijuana anytime in the month before,” she said.
“The last time I drove up there a few years ago, police even put a sniffer dog through my car. “These forced drug tests and searches represent a major incursion into the rights of Australians to drive freely and peacefully on the nation’s roads.”
