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RACGP support for permanent pill testing site
At a time when dangerous nitazenes are ‘flooding into Australia’, Victoria will expand its pill testing trial to include a fixed site.
‘To all governments across Australia, my message couldn’t be more straightforward – every life is worth saving.’
The Victorian Government has announced it will open the state’s first fixed drug testing site, in a move welcomed by the RACGP as a ‘huge step forward’.
Victorian Mental Health Minister Ingrid Stitt said the Victorian Pill Testing Service will open by August in Fitzroy – close to one of Melbourne’s most popular nightlife hubs, as well as public transport, healthcare and social services.
It comes as part of the state’s pill testing trial, which includes a mobile service at music festivals, and will offer ‘free, confidential, and non-judgmental harm reduction advice from health professionals’.
Like the mobile service, the aim of the fixed site is to reduce drug harm and save lives through the testing of most pills, capsules, powders, crystals and liquids.
Testing can detect highly dangerous synthetic opioids like fentanyl and nitazenes, which can be mixed with other drugs and cause death.
‘With testing and open, health-focused conversations, we are helping Victorians make more informed and safer choices,’ Minister Stitt said.
Data from almost 1400 samples collected from mobile pill testing at five major music festivals in Victoria found the main drugs detected were MDMA, ketamine and cocaine.
In 11% of samples, the drug was not what people expected it to be, according to the State Government.
Other key insights from the trial so far include:
- 65% reported it was their first time having a harm reduction conversation with a health professional and more than 30% said they would take a smaller amount as a result
- 91% were aged between 18 and 30 years old
- Two statewide drug advisories were issued for a high-dosage MDMA pill and high-risk 4-CMC sold as MDMA
Along with benefits to the community, real-time surveillance helps with early detection and rapid assessment of new synthetic drugs.
RACGP alcohol and other drug spokesperson Dr Marguerite Tracy described the fixed pill testing site as ‘great news, especially with nitazenes flooding into Australia’.
‘These
powerful opioids are similar to fentanyl and have been sold as heroin or ketamine, and pills sold as MDMA
have been found to contain nitazenes,’ she said.
‘This contamination doesn’t come with a warning label.
‘Drug testing can give health services the opportunity to detect contamination and warn people, but contamination increases the risk someone experiences an overdose or other adverse reaction.’
Dr Tracy also emphasised the need for greater awareness of naloxone, a drug that
can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
‘No matter what substance you use, carrying naloxone can save a life – yours, or someone else’s,’ she said.
‘That makes boosting awareness of naloxone, which can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose or adverse reaction, vital.’
Under
the national Take Home Naloxone program, naloxone is available free of charge and without a prescription at participating pharmacies located across Australia.
These pharmacies are searchable using
an interactive map, showing the growing availability of the drug in all corners of Australia.
Hundreds of sites across Australia are now participating in the Take Home Naloxone program.
The RACGP has urged state and territory governments to embrace drug testing services to save lives, and expressed disappointment earlier this year when the Queensland Government
closed two drug testing sites.
‘To all governments across Australia, my message couldn’t be more straightforward – every life is worth saving,’ Dr Tracy said.
‘Let’s put in place smart harm reduction measures that will save lives. Every day we delay is another day that people can experience overdoses and die from something that could potentially have been prevented.
‘Despite recent setbacks in Queensland, we’re seeing momentum build across Australia. My home state of New South Wales has launched its own drug testing trial, the ACT has been doing so for many years, and other state and territory governments are starting to say more positive things.’
RACGP Victoria Chair Dr Anita Muñoz said the expansion of pill testing in the state to a fixed site in Fitzroy ‘couldn’t come at a more opportune time’.
‘[Nitazenes] will take lives, so we must expand drug testing services and have more medically supervised injecting sites,’ she said.
‘Lives depend on it, it’s as simple as that.’
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alcohol and other drugs drug testing harm reduction illicit drugs naloxone nitazenes
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