Further push for pill testing rollout

The college is renewing calls for for fixed and mobile drug-testing services to be expanded across two more states in its harm-minimisation efforts.
 
GPs are urging the Tasmanian and South Australian Governments to follow the lead of other states and introduce drug testing services, as fears grow of emerging powerful and dangerous synthetic drugs such as nitazenes.
 
RACGP Tasmania Chair Dr Toby Gardner said lives are being put at risk.
 
‘The stakes are getting so much higher – this is a serious health issue, and we must act now,’ he said. 
 
‘We’re playing a game of roulette, because people simply don’t know what they’re taking. In recent times too, Hobart has topped the list nationwide with the highest consumption of opioids like oxycodone and fentanyl, and nitazenes are finding their way into these substances.
 
‘It’s time for Tasmania to finally act.’
 
RACGP Tasmania Deputy Chair Dr Tim Jones echoed the calls, saying that harm-minimisation measures ‘make sense’.
 
‘It’s a tragedy that many of those who succumb to overdoses at music festivals are young people with their whole lives ahead of them,’ he said.
 
‘Without drug testing, deaths will continue to occur. People in Tasmania, and across Australia, do use illicit drugs and there’s no point taking a hardline approach and acting like this doesn’t happen.
 
‘I urge the Government to act without delay.’
 
Earlier this year, the RACGP supported the first drug testing trial set up in New South Wales and Victoria, with the State Government heeding college calls to rollout a permanent fixed testing site.
 
The ACT was the first jurisdiction to launch a fixed pill-testing site in 2022 and successfully conducting drug testing at events such as music festivals.
 
In Victoria, 11% of the 1400 samples tested at music festival testing sites revealed that the drug was not what people expected it to be. These services also facilitated people to have a conversation with trained health officers about their substance use, with around 65% of those who used the site saying it was their first conversation with a health professional about drug and alcohol safety, and 30% saying they would adjust their substance use behaviours.
 
The college is also urging the South Australian Government to introduce drug-testing services, with the state’s Chair and RACGP Board Chair Dr Siân Goodson warning that immediate action is needed.
 
‘Lives are at risk, we need action,’ she said.
 
‘Other states and territories are acting on drug testing, why not us? A “war on drugs” law and order-first approach gets us nowhere.
 
‘The situation is urgent, the [summer] music festival season is fast approaching, and we know that at these events many young people take illicit drugs without knowing exactly what’s in them, including deadly substances that have taken lives in Australia, and overseas.
 
‘Keep in mind too that every year many new and dangerous illicit drugs arrive on our shores.’
 
Last month SA authorities issued warnings about nitazenes which are considerably more potent than fentanyl and heroin. Between January 2024 and March 2025, Australian Border Force officers detected eight nitazene imports at the Australian border.
 
More than 70% of people in Dr Goodson’s state support drug testing to save lives.
 
‘We’re seeing strong momentum across Australia in other states and territories, so let’s seize this opportunity and act now,’ she said.
 
‘How many more lives have to be lost to illicit drugs before sanity prevails and the Government acts?’
 
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drug testing services drug use harm minimisation illicit drugs nitazenes pill testing RACGP advocacy