The state government this week introduced a Bill into Parliament to ensure pill testing – also known as drug checking – can begin this summer.
Once passed, the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Amendment (Pill Testing) Bill 2024 will allow both fixed and mobile pill testing services to operate in Victoria.
According to the Minister for Mental Health Ingrid Stitt, pill testing is about saving lives and changing people’s behaviour by giving them access to the health and safety information they are asking for – and it’s needed now more than ever.
“No drug is ever truly safe, but people deserve to know if that one pill will kill – these changes don’t make drugs legal, but they will allow us to offer a service that will help keep Victorians safe,” she said.
“This is a common sense approach – the evidence is clear pill testing reduces harm and save lives and we have acted swiftly since announcing our plans to have services ready for the next festival season.”
The Bill will legally protect all parties, including festival operators, pill testing operators, and their clients – so nobody is breaking the law by operating or using the testing service.
Ms Stitt said this follows close, ongoing collaboration with Victoria Police – ensuring the right balance between holding drug dealers to account, while not deterring people from using the service.
There are no changes to police powers outside the service – possession and supply of illicit drugs remain the same – and all new guidelines and operational policies for officers will be clearly communicated before the trial starts.
The mobile service will begin during this summer’s festival season and will attend up to 10 music festivals and events throughout the implementation trial.
This will also make way for a fixed site to be established and open by mid-2025, in inner Melbourne, close to nightlife and public transport so more Victorians can easily access these life-saving services.
The drug checking technology available at these services will be able to test the make-up of most pills, capsules, powders, crystals, or liquids and identify harmful chemicals that can lead to death.
Trained peer workers and technical experts will also provide personalised and confidential health information to help people make better, safer and more informed decisions when visiting the service.
This is an implementation trial to see what model works best in Victoria because there’s plenty of evidence that pill testing saves lives and data obtained through the trial will help better inform public health responses and campaigns.
The Bill will also support expanded access to naloxone, the overdose reversal medicine, through 20 vending machines across Victoria.
Q
