With multiple cases of drug-related harm at music festivals recently, the Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen says she’s seeking expert advice on pill testing as a potential solution. The Queensland and ACT governments have already begun trials. Pill testing is widely available across Europe, the Americas and New Zealand, but NSW is yet to move forward with any kind of trial, despite widespread public support.
What do the experts say?
Dr Thomas Norman is Research Fellow at La Trobe University’s Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, and an alcohol and drugs researcher. Dr Norman said, ‘While there are several measures to minimise drug-related harms already in effect at music festivals, we are still seeing worryingly high numbers of adverse health events.
‘It is time to rethink our approach to keeping people safe.’
He suggests that the implementation of pill testing services in places like Victoria and NSW would align those states with the approach of Australia’s other public-health oriented drug policies.
‘Substance checking services aren’t a silver bullet or a whole substitute for the many other existing ways we minimise drug-related harms, but they are another tool to improve real people’s health and lives. It is not an endorsement of illicit drug taking, but a means to connect people with health professionals, offer advice and support, and change risky behaviour,’ said Dr Norman.
‘It is also important to consider the flow on effects that drug testing can have on black markets. If drugs are verifiably problematic, they tend to drop out of the market; that is good news for everybody.’
Potentially life saving
Dr Adrian Farrugia is Senior Research Fellow at La Trobe. ‘While drug checking or pill testing won’t address all the harms connected to an unregulated drug market, it’s a service that provides potentially life-saving information to those who use it,’ he said.
‘Drug checking or pill testing is a pragmatic strategy to reduce the potential harms associated with some forms of drug consumption. Refusing to provide people, who consume drugs, with as much information as possible may contribute to the tragedy of overdose.
‘Drug checking or pill testing services also generate long-term data about the different substances in the drug market and information that can be used to inform early warning systems for people who may be considering taking a drug,’ said Dr Farrugia.
‘The knowledge and expertise to successfully provide drug checking services is available now. The success of pill testing in the ACT, for example, led to the establishment of the CanTEST service in Canberra.’
He says other researchers and service providers in Australia, along with those working internationally, could be brought together to develop a similar service in other states, and potentially save lives.
Multiple recommendations
Dr Gabriel Caluzzi is a Postdoctoral Research Officer at La Trobe University’s Centre for Alcohol Policy Research. He sais, ‘Drug-checking has received multiple recommendations from experts to be trialled, including recent coroner’s reports from Victoria and New South Wales.
‘While different states and territories have taken varied stances on drug-checking, we know that the majority of Australians actually support it. Public support is a key factor for policymakers if they look to roll this out in their own jurisdictions,’ said Dr Caluzzi.
‘Drug-checking is a pragmatic approach to reducing the harms from drug use that is well supported by Australians.’
La Trobe Research Officer Dr Nyssa Ferguson is an expert on opioid overdose. She said, ‘I am in favour of the implementation of drug testing services. It is an excellent way to reduce overdose and provide an early warning system for harmful drugs in circulation.
‘This is just one of the many things that needs to be done to prevent accidental overdose in our communities.’
Other public health experts across Australia who have thrown their support behind pill testing include:
- Public Health Association Australia.
- Australian Medical Association.
- Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.
- Royal Australian College of Physicians.
- Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP).
You can learn more about pill testing at the Alcohol and Drug Foundation site, here.
