Canberra pill testing service CanTEST issues red alert after finding synthetic opioid

May 20, 2024

It’s the first time CanTEST has issued such a notice this year, and only the fourth time since operations began in Civic in mid-2022. “A red alert is something that we issue very rarely,” explained Dr Caldicott. “It is a reflection of how serious we think the impact of drugs like this can be on the wider community.” Dr Caldicott said early concerns prompted CanTEST analysts to pull an “all-nighter” into Saturday to ensure the message got out to the public quickly. “What often takes up to two weeks to turn around, they did in under three hours,” he said.