Victorians love music festivals and we've got plenty of them over the warmer months, like Beyond the Valley, Laneway Festival and Meredith Music Festival, to name just a few. This summer, festival goers will be safer than ever, with the state government just announcing it will trial pill testing.
Our state will be the third in the country to make this decision, following the ACT and Queensland. According to the Victorian government, last festival season saw paramedics responding to more drug overdoses at festivals in than during the entirety of last year. There were also 46 overdose deaths in 2022 involving novel synthetic drugs.
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.
This doesn't mean that any drugs will be decriminalised outside of being tested at the service, but the government will amend legislation so 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.
For more information, read this article from the state government.
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