News

Canberra’s drug checking site has now tested 1000 substances. The harm reduction service reported a majority of users disposing of their illicit drugs when testing found they contained unexpected and dangerous substances. ABC’s Adam Shirley spoke with Stephanie Stephens, the Director of Service Delivery at Directions Health. Watch video

To visit leading international drug checking services to rapidly improve the analytical chemistry capabilities in Australia (Mal McLeod – lead analyst for Pill Testing Australia). Read more

A NSW minister has broken ranks to urge her Labor government colleagues to “join the nationwide movement” toward pill testing at music festivals, while also suggesting controversial policing tactics such as strip searches and drug-detection dogs should be part of the promised drug summit. Read more

Pill testing will not be available onsite at this year’s Groovin the Moo festival in Canberra after exorbitant insurance premiums meant the service was too costly to offer, but CanTEST is expanding its services on the festival weekend. Read more

The Groovin the Moo music festival in Canberra will again be without pill-testing after prohibitively expensive insurance premiums forced the service to be scrapped. Read more

The Tasmanian government has again ruled out allowing pill testing, despite expert calls for it to be introduced following organisers at a music festival over the weekend warning patrons in the wake of a fatality at the event. Read the ABC report

Listen to the HRA Interview (audio)

The potentially lethal drug – called metonitazine – was detected in unmarked yellow pills that were sold as oxycodone. The substance has linked to fatal drug overdoses in New Zealand and the United States. Read the SBS article

Queensland will become the second Australian jurisdiction to offer pill testing. While the timeline is yet to be announced, once up and running, Queenslanders who use illicit drugs can have them checked to see what they actually contain before taking them. Read The Conversation article

Canberra’s confidential pill-testing service, which allows people to check what substances are in the illicit drugs they buy, has been extended. Read the ABC article