Victoria’s government could be considering the state’s first pill testing trial, after multiple recent music festival deaths in the state.
Premier Jacinta Allan said she wants to take action to prevent more families from experiencing the “horror” of losing a child to a drug overdose.
The State Government has requested advice from the Victorian Health Department to prevent festival overdoses.
The ACT and Qld are currently the only Australian jurisdictions where pill testing is allowed.
Pill testing
Pill testing is a harm-minimisation service. In Australia, it’s generally free and confidential.
Drug samples submitted for testing undergo chemical analysis to identify potentially harmful or unexpected ingredients.
Results from drug checks will generally relate to the strength and contents of the drug, and can include health advice for users.
Victoria
In January, nine people were hospitalised from suspected overdoses at an electronic music festival in Melbourne.
It prompted calls from advocates and some politicians for pill testing to be introduced in Victoria, where it’s currently illegal.
Two Victorian coroners also published a report recommending a pill testing trial in the state, after inquiries into two fatal overdoses in 2022 and 2023.
It said the service could be “lifesaving”.
Premier
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan went to the state’s Health Department in January for advice on how to prevent further overdoses.
This week, Allan said she would consider advice relating to pill testing when the Department of Health hands down its recommendations.
Allan said she is focused on ways to “support young people to be safe” at music festivals.
“As a parent, the horror of your son or daughter heading off with friends to have a good time, to go to a festival, and then to not come home — that horror is just unimaginable.”
Premier Jacinta Allan, responding to questions about the need to address drug overdoses after a spate of festival deaths in Victoria.
ACT expansion
This week, the ACT Government announced it will extend its pill testing services by at least three years.
Since July 2022, more than 2,600 drug tests have been conducted in the ACT.
One in 10 users have voluntarily discarded a drug based on test findings.
ACT Population Health Minister Emma Davidson said the territory will continue to “treat substance use as a health issue, not a criminal one.”
