Revealed: Dangerous substances found in Qld drug testing trial

Queensland's discontinued pill testing clinics identified 120 lethal substances in just one year, but the full evaluation remains hidden from public view. And state politicians are making no apologies.

One in 10 samples brought to Queensland’s now-shuttered pill testing clinics tested positive to a potentially dangerous substance, it has been revealed.

New data shows 700 people brought a total of 1200 drug samples to the two testing sites in a year – an average of over three a day – with about 120 across the year showing an unexpected psychoactive drug.

These included unregulated novel benzodiazepines, or “street benzos” being sold as everyday pharmaceutical drugs, which in extreme cases caused users to black out for several days.

But a full evaluation of the drug testing program – started by Labor and unwound by the LNP – will be kept from public view.

Highly dangerous substances including nitazene were dedicated several times during the trial, as well as stimulants such as cathinone sold as MDMA, which could leave people hospitalised or even dead.

The Loop Australia, which ran the now-closed pill testing clinic CheQpoint, has released its report into the 12-month trial, and CEO Cameron Francis warned that without the program the state would just be “counting bodies”.

The Loop Austrtalia CEO Cameron Francis. Picture: NewsWire / Valeriu Campan

“(The data) has shown us that there’s demand for a service like this, that once we build trust with people who use drugs, they will come forward and they’re willing to engage with the service like ours,” he said.

“We know that since we shut our doors in April, that people will have died not having had access to our service.

“Without drug checking, then people are flying blind, and, you know, people out there who buy medications on the internet, they are just not aware of some of these risks.”

Mr Francis said there were increasing cases of people taking medication from overseas, which may seem legitimate, or self-medicating off the internet to save money and encountering life-threatening mixtures of psychoactive drugs.

A third of people who used the clinic were directed to drug and alcohol counselling for the first time.

Queensland Network of Alcohol and Other Drug Agencies CEO Rebecca Lang said pill testing was the only real-time community response available, and without it there was no way to know what dangerous drugs were circulating the community until someone dies.

“I think the main thing that concerns me is the next time now we look at something like this will be the response to an emergence of a substance that has caused mass harm,” she said.

Pill testing at Victoria’s Beyond the Valley music festival

AMAQ president Dr Nick Yim said there was no viable alternative solution to pill-testing as an early-warning system, and called on the government to reconsider its decision to cut funding and reinstate the life-saving service.

Royal Australian College of GPs alcohol and other drugs spokeswoman Dr Marguerite Tracy said the data highlighted how little justification there was from the state government for their decision to shut the clinics.

Commissioned by Queensland Health at the time of the trial, the University of Queensland evaluation into drug checking services, which cost taxpayers nearly $500k, has been behind cabinet since May.

The Loop’s data is included in this evaluation.

But Mr Francis said it only made up a small part of the evaluation, which included additional details like interviews with Queenslanders who attended the clinics, data from festival-based services and also made key recommendations based on the findings.

Premier David Crisafulli last month maintained the government’s views on pill testing “haven’t changed”.

“I should have a read of it (the report) for sure, but I make the point that our policy position won’t change,”he said.

Treasurer David Janetzki denies the government has buried a report into pill testing in Queensland. Picture: NewsWire / John Gass

Key stakeholders including The Loop and the QNADA submitted Right to Information requests to Queensland Health for the report, however were denied on the basis it was cabinet-in-confidence.

Treasurer David Janetzki denied the government was burying the report but said details should come from the health minister.

“Our position on those matters hasn’t changed since the election,” he said.

“There will be reasons why documents are released (or) not released; confidentiality, commercial in confidence matters.

“I contrast how we’re approaching this compared to the former government who were constantly making decisions on the fly through media announcements, quasi brochures.

“We’re taking a calm and methodical approach to how we’re going about addressing the key challenges before the state, and we continue to act in that way.”

Health Minister Tim Nicholls said the report was still being considered by cabinet, but the government had made its policy on pill testing very clear.

Originally published as Revealed: Dangerous substances found in Qld drug testing trial