Rogue pill testing tent at Victorian festival prompts renewed calls for drug check trial

SECRET pill testing at a Victorian music festival has uncovered drugs laced with a substance linked to nightclub deaths and overdoses, prompting a call for a public trial this summer.

SECRET pill testing at a Victorian music festival has uncovered drugs laced with a substance linked to nightclub deaths and overdoses.

More than 300 festival goers checked their pills at the January event’s illegal testing station. A sample revealed some of the pills were laced with para-Methoxyamphetamine, dubbed Dr Death.

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Pill testing kits are publicly available. Picture: Supplied

Later laboratory tests of pills discarded by those concerned about the contents also detected the powerful hallucinogen, NBOMe.

The substance has been linked to three deaths and 20 hospital cases after a spate of overdoses along party strip, Chapel St.

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Edith Cowan University academic Stephen Bright started the rogue testing tent, using publicly-available reagent kits, after being offered ecstasy that contained PMA.

He said 99 per cent of people binned their drugs when told they contained unknown substances.

“We went to the organisers and explained what had happened,” Dr Bright, who heads the university’s addiction studies course, said.

“They didn’t want to see anybody die at the festival and gave us permission to set up a testing station out the back of a tent.”

Victorian MP Fiona Patten supports pill testing. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Each pill or capsule was subjected to four different reagent tests.

The results in about 30 per cent of cases contradicted each other, indicating the drug contained an unrecognised substance.

Dr Bright said it highlighted the need for sophisticated testing equipment, both on-site at music festivals and also at permanent locations in Australian capital cities.

Pill testing is common across Europe, including the Netherlands where it has been credited with largely eradicating the presence of dangerous substances.

Reason Party leader Fiona Patten called for pill testing to be trialled at a Victorian festival this summer.

She said a drug strategy focused on harm minimisation saved people’s lives.

“The message of “just say no” doesn’t work,” Ms Patten said.

“People are sourcing drugs from a broader area — the internet and friends of a friend — so they really have no idea what they are getting.

“People take pill testing seriously and act on the results.”

Acting Police Minister James Merlino has ruled out a trial of pill testing at music festivals. Picture: Kylie Else

But Acting Police Minister James Merlino ruled out a trial, with fears pill testing could appear as an endorsement for specific drugs.

People caught handling drugs as part of pill testing can face criminal charges.

“Our position on pill testing has not changed,” Mr Merlino said.

“Advice from Victoria Police consistently tells us it can give people a false, and potentially fatal, sense of security about illicit drugs.

“These tests are unreliable as they can only indicate the possible presence of a class of drug, not its concentration or the presence of other dangerous ingredients.”

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Originally published as Rogue pill testing tent at Victorian festival prompts renewed calls for drug check trial