A Victorian coroner has found that police, security guards, bag searches, and sniffer dogs at music festivals can cause riskier drug use and more harm. This came after the death of Trang Thi Thu Le, 28, who collapsed and later died at Melbourne’s Marlo Altitude music event in 2023. She had taken MDMA and ketamine and went into cardiac arrest. Le had attended the event on 16 September with friends and her partner to celebrate her birthday. Despite help, she died early the next day. Coroner Ingrid Giles called for better drug harm reduction guidelines for Victoria's music festivals. She said current state health department rules have not been updated since 2013. Giles said, “A common thread throughout research is that countermeasures designed exclusively to prevent people using drugs [for example police, security guards, bag searches, sniffer dogs, higher penalties for drug possession] have no positive impact on drug use or related harms, and in some cases can actually lead to riskier drug use and greater drug harms.” The coroner looked at 18 deaths at Victorian music events from 2000 to 2024. Most victims were young adults with an average age of 26. MDMA was involved in 15 of these deaths. Harm Reduction Victoria told the coroner that practices like checking toilets for drug use, banning water, long water lines, random pat-downs, and security-led drug response may create fear and mistrust. This could lead people to take more drugs before events to avoid being caught. Giles did not blame the management of the Marlo Altitude event. But she stressed the need for fresh advice for organizers on safe event management. She praised Victoria’s free, confidential pill testing trial, calling it key to harm reduction. “Drug checking or pill testing services at outdoor music festivals were found to be associated with people using reduced dose sizes of drugs and being more likely to dispose of potentially dangerous drugs,” Giles said.