After the legalisation of pill testing back in November last year, and a successful summer of trialling a mobile testing service at festivals across the state, the next step in the drug-checking trial has arrived in Melbourne.
The state government has revealed the location of Victoria's first-ever fixed site for pill testing will open this year in the centre of Melbourne's inner north. The service will be located at 95 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy – close to one of our city's busiest nightlife hubs.
The site will offer testing of most pills, capsules, powders, crystals, and liquids, all in an effort to reduce drug harm. It will be run by a consortium of Youth Support and Advocacy Service, the Loop Australia and Harm Reduction Victoria. It will also offer free, confidential, and non-judgmental harm reduction advice from health professionals, medical support and social services when needed. The pill testing service is set to open by August 2025 and will operate Thursday to Sunday.
The legalisation of pill testing 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. Victoria state was the third in the country legalise drug-checking, following the ACT and Queensland, and the first to create dedicated legislation to support pill testing.
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 determine what works best in Victoria.
A mobile pill testing service operated across Victoria's festival season last summer, travelling several music festivals and events, and is confirmed to return to five more festivals next summer.
For more information, read this article from the state government.
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