DIY drug-testing kits flying off the shelves after fatal overdoses at music festivals
A spate of fatal overdoses at Australian festivals is prompting Queensland music lovers to take things into their own hands as police continue to rubbish the idea that pill testing facilities will save lives.
QLD News
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
DIY drug-testing kits are flying off Queensland shelves after a spate of fatal overdoses at music festivals.
The suspected overdose of Brisbane’s Joshua Tam, 22, at a NSW festival last month has sparked calls for pill testing to be rolled out at Queensland music events.
Those calls are intensifying after yet another death at the weekend.
Family of Brisbane drug victim starts charity to aid research
Are you sure your kid would never take drugs?
Popular teen dies at FOMO festival
On Saturday, NSW teen Alex Ross-King died after she took a substance at the FOMO music festival in Sydney.
The 19-year-old was yesterday remembered as a “beautiful soul gone way too early”.
But many drug users are already taking matters into their own hands, with one testing kit supplier experiencing booming sales.
EZ Test Australia’s Steve Bourke said there had been more interest from Queenslanders over the holiday period.
“There’s definitely been an increase in Queensland, I’m getting orders from up there every other day,” he told The Courier-Mail.
The testing kits cater to a wide variety of drugs including cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, methamphetamine, GHB, bath salts and cannabis.
The tests measure the purity of a drug and, in some cases, contaminants.
“They’re not foolproof, they are harm minimisation – at least you have a bit more knowledge about what you’re going to take – that’s what they’re good for,” Mr Bourke said.
The kits, which are sourced from Holland, are sold at 15 stores across Queensland, including Off Ya Tree in Brisbane and Punktured in Surfers Paradise.
Mr Bourke said sales had been up 20 per cent through last year with a 120 per cent hike in December nationwide.
The timing coincides with a smattering of major music festivals across the country.
The spate of deaths at Australian music festivals has led to a debate over whether pill testing should become state sanctioned.
Queensland Network of Alcohol and Other Drugs Agencies has thrown its support behind pill testing, while the State Government is examining a trial of the devices conducted at a Canberra music festival last year.
However, the Queensland Police Union has rubbished the idea, believing it would only lead to more deaths.
‘Lucky to be alive’: French tourist reveals horror ordeal in alleged Valley stab attack
A French backpacker says he’s lucky to be alive after surviving three stab wounds and being discharged from hospital in an alleged late-night Valley attack.
‘A psychopath’: Call centre worker sacked over Milat insult
A market researcher who was sacked because she compared a member of the public to Australia’s most prolific serial killer has told a hearing “other interviewers have said much worse”.