Schoolies pill testing proposed

Pill testing shouldn’t be confined to music festivals but also be considered at Schoolies and in popular party areas such as Fortitude Valley, according to a Greens MP.

Maiwar MP Michael Berkman says Queensland needs to have a hard look at the criminalisation of drugs. Picture: Liam Kidston

PILL testing shouldn’t be confined to music festivals but also be considered at Schoolies and in popular party areas such as Fortitude Valley, according to a Greens MP.

Maiwar MP Michael Berkman said Queensland needed to have a hard look at the criminalisation of drugs.

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“Whether it’s in the (Fortitude) Valley or at Schoolies, there is heaps of potential to provide this support (pill testing),” he said.

His comments come after LNP frontbencher Dr Christian Rowan lodged a petition to Queensland parliament this week on behalf of his constituents, who are calling for a trial.

The Courier-Mail revealed earlier this month Dr Rowan supported the controversial program while Deputy Opposition Leader Tim Mander said there needed to be “overwhelming evidence”.

Pill testing has been subject to rigorous debate around Australia this summer following the deaths of multiple festival-goers, including Brisbane man Joshua Tam, 22.

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians this week threw its support behind the program while the New South Wales and Victorian police commissioners rejected it.

The Palaszczuk Government is currently considering the results of a trial in Canberra last year.

Mr Berkman said it was important to provide education and support.

“(I’m) very much supportive of pill testing as a general approach and (as) an important part of harm minimisation,” he said. “It’s quite absurd that governments are so scared of media backlash or whatever it may be to take good steps.”