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Key Points
- Victoria’s first pill testing trial took place during the Beyond the Valley New Year’s Eve festival.
- Staff tested more than 600 samples and spoke to more than 700 festivalgoers, mainly in their late teens and early 20s.
- Almost 40 per cent of patrons said they would use a lower dose of their drugs after speaking health professionals.
Cameron Francis, chief executive of non-profit The Loop Australia, who ran the trial, said they had “people lining up waiting” to have their drugs tested “well before we were ready to open”.
What did the trial show?
Francis said that the service did not discover any highly dangerous substances that would necessitate a public alert.
Francis said the trial showed that those attending music festivals wanted pill testing services available.
Revellers at the Beyond The Valley festival, east of Melbourne. Source: Facebook / Facebook/beyondthevalley
“They’re really happy to come forward, they’re really hungry for information, and they’re hungry for advice,” he said.
“Some of the younger crowds are maybe even more receptive to our advice as they tend to be fairly naive and relatively inexperienced using drugs,” he said.
“These preliminary insights have already highlighted that what starts as a simple drug check often evolves into deeper conversations about health and wellbeing — a crucial step in our harm reduction approach,” Victoria’s Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said
Criticism over trial from the Opposition
A man in his twenties who attended the festival was treated for a drug overdose at Geelong Hospital, but no information was available on whether he used the service as revellers were not asked to provide their names or other details.
Police had promised a highly visible presence at the festival but said officers would not be at the pill testing station unless responding to an incident, as it is not illegal to carry a small amount of drugs at a drug-checking service.
