The Victorian government has introduced a bill to parliament to enable the rollout of a $4-million pill testing trial at festivals and other events across the state this summer.

If passed, the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Amendment (Pill Testing) Bill 2024 will legally protect all parties – including festival operators, pill-testing staff, and their clients – providing or using the service.

However, the government is keen to point out that there will be no changes to police powers outside of the testing trial, with possession and supply of illegal drugs remaining the same.

“These changes don’t make drugs legal but they will allow us to offer a service that will help keep Victorians safe,” minister for mental health Ingrid Stitt said.

Mobile testing services will attend ten music festivals and events throughout the 18-month implementation trial. There are also plans to establish a fixed testing site in inner Melbourne by mid-2025.

Trained peer workers will be on hand to provide confidential health advice to help people make informed decisions.

“No drug is ever truly safe but people deserve to know if that one pill will kill,” Stitt said. “This is a commonsense approach. The evidence is clear – pill testing reduces harm and saves lives.”  

It’s good to see something starting to happen

Organisations such as Harm Reduction Australia have long advocated for drug checking to become government policy. “It’s a momentous day to see that starting to get put through parliament,” Professor Nick Crofts – an epidemiologist and public health practitioner – told Government News.

Crofts said framing the policy as an implementation trial is significant. “It’s a trial of how the service will run not a trial of whether the policy is effective – that’s really positive. So we know that drug-checking services are here to stay in Victoria, at least under this government.”

Crofts told GN Harm Reduction Australia will be advocating for the service to continue once the 18-month trial has concluded. “We think it’s necessary. The long-term dream would be for drug-checking services to be accessible for all Victorians near where they live.”

While Australia has been a world leader when it comes to harm-reduction policy – such as introducing needle and syringe programs in the 1980s – Crofts told GN progress can be a slog.

“These changes are politically complicated,” he said. “We would like to see more ambition from government all across Australia in terms of funding more harm-reduction services … but it’s good to see something starting to happen.”   

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