NEWS ROOM
A selection of articles appearing in the media.
Greens introduce Pill Testing Bill in NSW Upper House
Greens MP and spokesperson for drug harm reduction, Cate Faehrmann, has introduced legislation that would allow a trial of pill testing at music festivals and a fixed site across New South Wales in the Upper House today.
Crossbench teams up on pill testing trial, as government says it’s open to cannabis discussion
Pill testing could be trialled over next year’s music festival season if three minor Victorian parties get their way on Thursday, a day after the state government announced it was open to talks about decriminalising personal use of cannabis.
Pill testing to go ahead on-site at Spilt Milk festival in Canberra
Pill Testing Australia confirmed on social media that the free drug-checking service would be available at Canberra's Spilt Milk festival on Saturday. The free, confidential service will be available to festival goers on the festival grounds from 11:30am.
KnowYourStuffNZ Celebrates Two Years Of Legality
On November 25, KnowYourStuffNZ is celebrating the two-year anniversary of the Drug and Substance Checking Legislation Act 2021. This Act made drug checking permanently legal in Aotearoa New Zealand, a world first.
Experts Have Renewed Calls To Legalise Pill Testing: Here’s How It Works & Where Things Are At
The Greens have renewed their calls for free pill testing, in an urge to the Victorian Labor Government to take up an offer to establish a free pill testing trial. It calls growing calls from all around Australia, as experts say pill testing is essential to saving...
Correspondence to Victorian Premier re Pill Testing
At an event at Parliament House today, PTA offered a cost-free trial of its public health based pill testing service to the Victorian Government - the offer is supported and endorsed by a variety of unions and organisations.
NSW police sniffer dogs incorrectly detect drugs on patrons despite costing taxpayers $46m over past decade
Between 1 January 2013 and 30 June this year, 94,535 general and strip-searches were prompted by the dogs but nearly 75% of these searches yielded no illicit drugs
Urgent warning reignites calls to fix serious problem affecting young Aussies
Dr David Caldicott, Clinical Lead for Pill Testing Australia and CANTest, who provide festival and fixed-site health and drug checking services in the ACT, told Yahoo News Australia that Canberra has offered other states, like NSW, free trials.
Debbie’s son overdosed. She thinks this state’s push for drug testing is a ‘no brainer’
The Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association (VAADA), with the support of 77 health and community organisations, published a statement on Monday pushing for the Victorian government to implement a drug-checking service and early warning system in the state.
Novel drugs are leading to rising overdose deaths in Victoria – drug checking services could help
Many of the harms people experience from using illegal drugs are a result of unregulated supply. Drugs may be contaminated, or completely substituted with something unexpected. They may also be of variable and unknown dosage or strength.
NSW Labor MP speaks out in support over pill testing
The trial would not require new legislation and could be achieved through “existing frameworks”, said Murphy, a former president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties. He said NSW Health could issue licences to existing drug-checking services like Pill Testing...
Greens want debate on pill testing after music festival deaths
Harm Reduction Australia and Pill Testing Australia president Gino Vumbaca said drug-checking services could not operate without the support of government and the police. “The bill would remove any doubt about our permission to operate,” he said. “Politicians are way...
Music festivals, drugs, and your leal rights when dealing with police in NSW
As the weather warms and music festival season approaches, a concern for many attendees will be how to deal with police and what your rights are. This is due to the often-overwhelming presence of police officers and sniffer dogs at festivals and concerts.
Pill testing service could return to Spilt Milk 2023 festival in Canberra
A deal's not done until it's done, of course, but Mr Vumbaca is hopeful after failing to get anywhere with hundreds of other insurers. If he is right, pill-testing at the festival on November 25 would be there just after possession of small amounts of drugs was...
Mother of teenager who died at Sydney music festival urges Minns government to introduce pill testing
Ms Ross-King and her family have campaigned for active measures to reduce drug-related risks, including pill testing. "The premier, government, governments before them ... they want young people to change their behaviour," she said. "They are not going to change their...
Two people dead after attending Knockout Outdoor music festival in Western Sydney
President of Harm Reduction Australia and Pill Testing Australia Gino Vumbaca said his offer to conduct free trials had been knocked back by the state government for the past five years.
Fresh calls to end use of sniffer dogs at festivals after report finds low success rate
New figures indicate drug detection dogs have a low success rate. Some are urging for an end to their use at music festivals – as well as the practice of strip searches – and the implementation of pill testing.
‘Out of control’: new findings suggest NSW Police aren’t abiding by strip search procedures
Gino Vumbaca, President of Harm Reduction Australia and Pill Testing Australia, questioned why strip searching has to continue in the first place. “I think what’s fundamentally missing from this report is an understanding of the impact of strip searching people, and...
Waiting for a crisis: Fears as NSW enters festival season without drug reform
Harm Reduction Australia has offered to run a free pill testing trial at any festival of the NSW government’s choosing, but has been told no decisions will be made until after a drug summit.
VIDEO: Calls for pill testing ahead of summer festival season
Advocates for drug testing have called on NSW Premier Chris Minns to introduce it ahead of the busy Summer festival season - ABC
The quiet champions of pill testing preventing “harrowing” deaths
This is the spot where Professor Mal McLeod goes quietly about the business of saving lives in the Canberra region, though the analytical chemist is slow to embrace the lifesaver tag.
Calls to take Canberra’s drug-checking service CanTEST on the road to better help Australians
In just over a year of operation, CanTEST has checked 1,250 samples of recreational drugs like ecstasy, LSD, ketamine and cocaine, as well as harder drugs of dependence like heroin and ice.
VIDEO: Drop-in drug checking clinic provides worrying insight into Australia’s party drugs
Nearly a thousand people have come forward to have their drugs tested and the results suggest a host of dangerous supplements and contamination may be found in the country's party drugs.
Labor under pressure for drug reform after Sydney’s spate of shootings
President of Harm Reduction Australia and Pill Testing Australia Gino Vumbaca said the organisation had offered to run free pill testing trials, both during last month’s pride month or at a future music festival, which were not responded to favourably.
What did Australia’s first drug-checking site CanTEST find in its inaugural year?
CanTEST, which has been operating for about a year in Canberra's CBD, is free and open to anyone who wants to know the contents of their pills or drugs.
Majority support for drug checking services
A new La Trobe University study shows majority support for drug checking services with 56 per cent of the over 18,000 respondents supporting related policies.
HRA & PTA Online Education Course
How to sign up for Australia’s first dedicated harm reduction online education course HRA Online Course Announcement - June 2023
RACGP Supports Expert Calls for Drug Testing
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has backed calls for drug testing services to save lives at risk.
A free, legal drug checking service is being set up in three cities around Aotearoa.
The new service is now available at community clinics in Wellington and Christchurch five days a week, and four days a week in Dunedin. The clinics are provided by the Needle Exchange Services Trust (NEST) and are the only regular scheduled drug checking service...
CanTEST on their first 1000 drug tests
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...
Churchill Fellowship Report – to visit leading international drug checking services to rapidly improve the analytical chemistry capabilities in Australia
Mal McLeod - lead analyst for Pill Testing Australia
‘Join the movement’: Minister calls for pill testing trial in NSW
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...
Groovin the Moo fails to secure pill testing again as insurers remain risk averse
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 the article
Canberra’s Groovin the Moo music festival will again be without pill-testing, as insurance becomes 22 times more expensive
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 the ABC Article
Tasmanian government unmoved on pill testing despite drug warning to Panama festival-goers
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.
Queensland Pill Testing – HRA Interview
Listen to the HRA Interview (audio)
Red alert issued over ‘dangerous drug’ detected in Australia. Here’s the warning for festivalgoers
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.
Pill testing is coming to Queensland. Here’s what can we learn from programs overseas
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...
ACT extends confidential pill-testing service CanTEST as evaluation shows most users discard tainted drugs
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.
Canberra’s Free Pill-Testing Service Shows Most Ket Isn’t Ket
Canberra’s free and confidential pill-testing service — the only one of its kind in Australia — has been so popular it has been extended beyond an initial six-month trial to at least 12 month. Read the Vice article.
We’ve detected a potent opioid in Canberra. Here’s what we know about it
Australia’s first government-sanctioned drug-checking service CanTEST has issued its inaugural ‘red alert’, the highest level of warning, following the detection of metonitazene in a yellow pill masquerading as the pharmaceutical drug oxycodone. We should be very...
An Australian First – Fixed Site Pill Testing Announced
Pill Testing Australia (PTA) and Harm Reduction Australia (HRA) are pleased to advise that approval has been given by the ACT Government to pilot Australia’s first ever fixed site pill testing service. The approval was announced in last night’s ACT Government’s Budget...
Pill Testing Australia shares new advert after NSW Deputy Coroner’s recommendations!
Given the recent recommendations by the NSW Deputy Coroner, Pill Testing Australia have shared a short video which highlights the harm caused by preventing young people from having knowledge about the content of their drugs.The one-minute piece produced by Sydney...
Pill Testing Australia launches advert to promote harm reduction strategy!
After releasing a detailed operational report on the second Australian pill testing pilot conducted at Groovin The Moo in April, Pill Testing Australia has launched an advert to support and drive conversation around pill testing at festivals.The advert, directed...
Report on the 2nd ACT GTM Pill Testing Pilot: a Harm Reduction Service
Media Release – Pill Testing Australia releases detailed report from second pilot conducted at Groovin The Moo!
Pill Testing Australia have released a detailed operational report on the second Australian pill testing pilot conducted at Groovin The Moo in April and are calling on state governments to support their service Australia wide. The report shows that the...
Media Release – Second pill testing pilot in Canberra a success!
MEDIA RELEASE Monday 29 April 2019 For Immediate Release Second pill testing pilot in Canberra an overwhelming success Pill Testing Australia has successfully implemented a 2nd Pill Testing Pilot at the Groovin the Moo Festival in Canberra Preliminary key facts: The...
PTA Launch “Give That They May Know” fundraiser!
Well… hello, Australia! My name is David Caldicott, it’s entirely possible that you may have seen or heard me harping on about harm minimisation in general and pill testing in particular over the last decade or so. If so, sorry about the prior intrusion and apologies...
Groovin The Moo gets green light to host Australia’s second-ever pill testing trial
Pill testing will once again go ahead at this year's Groovin The Moo festival in Canberra. Heading to a new site at Exhibition Park in Canberra, aka EPiC, at the end of April, Groovin the Moo will host Australia's second-ever pill testing trial after the ACT...
Here’s why doctors are backing pill testing at music festivals across Australia
For many years experts in the field of drug policy in Australia have known existing policies are failing. Crude messages (calls for total abstinence: “just say no to drugs”) and even cruder enforcement strategies (harsher penalties, criminalisation of drug users) have...