Heathcote senior player Riki Stephens died after taking illicit drugs.

A YOUNG Victorian footballer has died after taking illicit drugs — and that’s a real tragedy for his family, friends and his community. And the heartbreaking thing is, it could have been prevented.

It was initially reported that Riki Stephens, who died in hospital on Friday after family made the tough decision to turn off his life support, may have taken the drug ‘flakka’ a synthetic stimulant while celebrating on the Gold Coast.

But toxicology reports later confirmed he had taken a lethal combination of MDMA (ecstasy), amphetamines and LSD.

It remains unclear whether he took them separately, or if all these drugs came in one form. But for now, that is besides the point.

The point is this: What good is it to test for the drugs after the person has been hospitalised or, as in this case, died? Testing the drugs before Stephens took them, could have saved his life.

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”. That’s exactly where we’re at with our current approach to drugs here in Australia — we are stuck! What we are currently doing is not working. We need to start having the hard conversations and do things differently.

Australia needs to trial drug checking. It’s not a radical idea. It’s available in several European countries including the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Spain and France. And guess what? It works.

But how does it work? In this case, Riki Stephens could have gone to a designated drug checking area, had his drugs properly tested for ingredients and potency, and been educated by a trained health professional on what potential harms he might suffer if he was to take them.

This process gives the potential drug taker the opportunity to make an informed decision about whether to take the risk or not take the drug at all. In the biz, we call that an ‘intervention’.

People against the idea of a drug checking trial here in Australia believe that by providing these services it encourages people to take drugs.

Well, I hate to burst anyone’s bubble but the truth of the matter is — Australians already love to take drugs. In fact, the recent National Ice Taskforce Report found that the majority of people taking illicit drugs, do so to have fun. And that’s why we can’t arrest our way out of the problem.

Australians have an insatiable appetite when it comes to illicit substances. Studies show that we are world-leaders in drug consumption. We are the highest users of ecstasy, we’re the third biggest amphetamine users and second only to the United States with our opioid use. And there’s no sign it’s going to change anytime soon.

But we’ve been stuck in the same approach to dealing with Australia’s drug issue for 50 years — and, frankly, it hasn’t worked. And what’s our response? Nothing. We won’t even ‘trial’ or ‘pilot’ anything new.

Maybe that’s because drug policy reform continues to be driven by politics and media driven public fear rather than evidence.

This is an issue about leadership and as a result, we have lost our way.

Australia, let’s accept the things we cannot change — and have the courage to change the things we can.

John Rogerson is chief executive of the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, a national not-for-profit organisation dedicated to preventing substance use problems.