As information and results from Australia’s first ever pill testing trial in Canberra is released, political support for more trials is growing.
Yesterday, initial results from the successful pill testing trial at Groovin The Moo Canberra were released. Since then more have been shared – including some that shocked the organisers of the trial.
David Caldicott – one of the trial’s supervisors – took to Twitter to share his shock at the news that 1/2 of Australian drugs are being mis-sold. This is an incredibly larger amount than the 1/5 mis-sold drugs in the UK.
We were absolutely baffled- I'm the biggest nerd I know on this down here, & I just assumed the percentages would be the same as yours.
Next time we'll be pushing really hard to either have next level gear on-site, or at least getting discards back to lab to confirm.
?Gig-related https://t.co/hl8wvLxhxP— David Caldicott (@ACTINOSProject) April 30, 2018
With this latest news, and the full results due out by the end of the week, political support for more pill testing is growing around the country.
The NSW state government and opposition still do not support pill testing, with opposition health spokesperson telling the AAP “I remain sceptical about conducting a trial in NSW but I would be very interested in looking at the ACT results.”
However Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi wants the government to “pull it’s head out of the sand.” The MP told 9 News “The reality is people take drugs whether the NSW Government likes it or not. They need to get out of the way to allow experts to get on with the job of keeping people safe.”
Lisa Singh – a Labor MP – also supports the move for pill testing across Australia. Singh believes that any government serious about ensuring the safety of festival participants should support pill testing without police involvement.
Liberal MP Warren Entsch asked the ABC “How many funerals” were necessary before pill testing was available throughout Australia.
There is still a long way to go before we might see nationwide pill testing initiatives. However, growing political support puts more pressure on state governments to consider implementing the practice.
With punters at the festival in Canberra also supporting the testing, it’s clear this is something that Australians want and support.
