Following the announcement of a trial drug-checking service in June 2024, the state government has pushed new legislation through parliament to officially make pill testing legal in Victoria.
The new law comes after paramedics responded to more drug overdoses during the previous music festival season in than during the entirety of last year, and 46 overdose deaths in 2022 involving novel synthetic drugs.
Victoria state will be the third in the country to make this decision, following the ACT and Queensland, and the first to create dedicated legislation to support pill testing.
The new law doesn't mean that any drugs will be decriminalised outside of being tested at the service, but does mean that people won't be breaking the law by bringing in drugs to be tested. According to information released by the state government, consultations with police will establish an arrangement that doesn’t deter people from using the service.
The motive behind the trial is ultimately to save lives and change behaviour around drug use, with plenty of research backing pill testing as an effective method to achieve this. It'll be an implementation trial that isn't designed to determine whether the service should exist long-term, but rather to test out different models with the aim to eventually create a permanent service.
Victoria is by no means a pioneer in this movement, with 31 drug checking programs already in operation across the globe that have been hugely successful. The drug checking technology at these services will be able to test most pills, capsules, powders, crystals, or liquids and identify harmful chemicals that can lead to death.
A mobile pill testing service will be set up for the beginning of Victoria's festival season in summer, and it will travel to up to ten music festivals and events throughout the trial period. There are also plans for a fixed testing site to open in mid-2025 in Melbourne's inner-city area.
For more information, read this article from the state government.
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