To Test Or Not To Test

By Martin Davis

Drug Testing is the testing of illicit drugs such as MDMA for unsafe chemicals commonly used at music festivals, nightclubs, and concerts where drug use is normally high and is becoming increasingly popular.

Drug testing has been used overseas since 1992 when the Netherlands included it as part of their drug policy with Austria, Belgium, Switzerland following by the turn of the century and now in UK and New Zealand are allowing pill testing begging the question of is it time that Australia follows suit?

The Australian government is looking into pill testing is because of the number of deaths at festivals from illicit drug use according to a study done by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) where between the years 2000 and 2018, almost 400 deaths were linked to drug use.

In 2019 a second trial was done at Groovin the Moo festival in Canberra where 170 substances weretested and found seven MDMA pills containing a deadly drug which could have caused great harm.

Before we have a look at the research what are the pros and cons to pill testing,

PROS:

- Changes behaviour with negative results deterring people from consuming drugs

- Enables to capture long term data about substances in the illicit drug marker

- Dangerous products have left the black market due to pill testing

- Visits create a opportunity to provide support above testing

CONS:

- On-site testing kits are limited

- not 100% accurate

- They cannot test for the concentration and high doses of MDMA and meth

- Tests cannot detect new drugs that become available on the market

ECU Lead Researcher Dr Stephan Blight has found that pill-testing would not change people’s intention to take ecstasy and that it is more a harm reduction strategy and making users aware of what they are taking and making their own decisions

“Harm reduction strategy and has demonstrated efficacy internationally we've got some local evidence from the ACT and it's something that should be trailed more broadly across Australia however the most interesting part of the research that we've just published is that in Western Australia perhaps we're not quite ready for it yet at least not at festivals”

As Stephen bright has said pill testing is not about getting drugs off the streets but its mainly about reducing harm and having that intervention and the conversation around the use of these party drugs.

In Dr Blights research it shows that 55% of West Australians would participate in pill testing if it were available, another person who also is for pill testing is, former Director of the National Drug Research Institute (NDRI) Professor Steve Allsop, he has been in the field of drug research for over 35 years, says that “Illicit drug use is no quality control so we often don’t know what is in a pill… we know one of the things that can contribute to risk is what might be in them.”

So based on the research it is evident that pill testing is beneficial to ensuring that death tolls at festivals can become a thing of the past, but some governments think that pill testing will just encourage drug use, and that the best way to tackle drug related deaths at festivals.

Premier Mark McGowan has put up a fight against pill testing with the WA Government maintaining there “tough on drugs” approach with premier McGowan saying in 2019 ABC article “If I genuinely thought it would save lives, I'd say it was a good idea, but I don't.”

Who else is also got the same mindset as the WA leader itis the former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian who also told the ABC “We will not go down that path because we feel very strongly that it sends a wrong message,”

but why is there so much negativity around pill testing ECU lecturer and researcher Dr Ross Hollett explains why people are against pill testing?

"I think one of the main reasons is the concern over the message that has centred around, substance use and obviously there's, an implied endorsement of illicit substance use through a quality control service and supply by potentially government funding. "