Predicted fentanyl influx prompts call for drug-testing services

Fears over a flood of potentially deadly synthetic substances arriving on Australia’s shores have led to renewed calls to establish government-funded drug-testing services.
 
According to Australian Federal Police commander Kate Ferry, customs authorities are increasingly intercepting shipments of fentanyl – a synthetic substance 50 times more potent than heroin which is responsible for about 1500 deaths each week in the US, and the situation is only predicted to get worse.
 
The revelation has drawn a response from illicit drug researchers, who told News Corp drug checking facilities are required to help warn users about the substances in their drugs – a recommendation that was also made by the Victorian coroner in 2021.
 
The RACGP has thrown its support behind the facilities, with Dr Hester Wilson, Chair of RACGP Specific Interests Addiction Medicine, saying urgent action is needed.
 
‘This common-sense measure will save lives,’ she said.
 
‘People using drugs, particularly opioid drugs such as heroin, are flying blind and risking their lives every day because no one can tell them whether what they are taking contains fentanyl, fentanyl analogs or other deadly substances.
 
‘If it does contain fentanyl, two milligrams can be lethal depending on the person’s body size.’
 
Dr Wilson believes the potential scale of the problem means there is ‘no time to lose’.
 
‘In countries like the United States, fentanyl is being added to a range of recreational drugs with devastating results. Australia must brace itself, because the Australian Federal Police has [recently] seized huge shipments of fentanyl,’ she said.
 
‘As things stand, we only establish whether a batch of drugs contains other hazardous substances at morgues or police seizures after people have already overdosed.
 
‘By setting up drug testing centres, people can learn what the drugs they are taking contain before it’s too late.’
 
A recent report from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre found that there were 1788 drug-induced deaths Australia-wide in 2021 – the equivalent of five drug-induced deaths every day. Natural and semi-synthetic pharmaceutical opioids including morphine and oxycodone are the primary opioids involved in overdose deaths, followed by heroin.
 
It is not the first time the RACGP has backed measures aimed at supporting informed drug use, with the college also a vocal supporter of pill testing regimes that have been established in Queensland and the ACT.
 
‘The centres will not tell people that the drugs they are taking are safe,’ Dr Wilson said.
 
‘Instead, the testing will reveal what many people taking these drugs will be all too aware of – that they cannot trust what they are being sold and that they are playing a dangerous game.
 
‘It’s a lottery as to whether the opioid drugs you have bought contain fentanyl, you simply will not be able to determine this until it’s too late.
 
‘So, let’s get on the front foot, and act decisively to protect people in the community before the situation worsens.
 
‘Fentanyl is arriving on our shores and, given how addictive this substance is, I fear that once it gains a foothold in Australia there will be no turning back. Every life matters and this reform will save lives.’
 
Log in below to join the conversation.

drug overdose drug testing fentanyl opioids