Allan government believed to be now seriously considering backing a pill testing trial

The state government is understood to be considering backing a trial that would see pill testing at medical clinics — not music festivals — instead of a second Melbourne drug injecting room.

Pill testing could be introduced across Victoria as part of wider drug reforms that could replace the city’s second injecting room.

The Herald Sun can reveal plans to open a second injecting room in the CBD have stalled as the Allan government instead looks toward major drug reforms.

Senior sources said the government was now seriously considering backing a pill testing trial.

Under plans being canvassed it would allow Victorians to have pills tested at specific medical clinics, but not at music festivals.

The move would require complex reforms including across the criminal justice portfolio.

But government sources said Premier Jacinta Allan was open to the major legislative change.

“There is more of an appetite to introduce wider reforms than there is to bring a second injecting room into the city,” one source said.

The reform would mark a major policy shift under Ms Allan’s leadership after her predecessor Daniel Andrews repeatedly ruled out the move.

But the government has come under increasing pressure to introduce such a trial particularly in the wake of last month’s Hardmission music festival that saw eight revellers put into induced comas following a mass MDMA overdose.

The Hardmission Flemington festival that saw eight revellers put into induced comas following a mass MDMA overdose. Picture: Instagram

Sources said the trial and wider reform could kill the city’s proposed second injecting room.

“The majority of feedback is that it’s dead,” one source said.

The second side was recommended by a panel of experts in 2020 with calls to establish it near an illicit drug market and wider network of services.

But it has been plagued by widespread opposition and concerns from within government about the impact of a CBD facility.

Sites near the Queen Victoria Market and Flinders St were earmarked as potential sites with the government spending $45m to by the Yooralla building opposite the rail station.

The idea of a Bourke St facility _ at the Salvation Army building 200m from state parliament _ has also been floated promoting major opposition from nearby businesses.

The government has been sitting on a report from former top cop Ken Lay into the second injecting room since receiving it early last year.

Parliament has ordered the government to make the report public by March 6.

The state government on Sunday refused to confirm whether Lay’s long awaited report would be released by this deadline.

Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes said: “I know the responsible minister ... is certainly focused on a timely response because they are conscious the community is asking questions,” she said.

“Ken Lay had conducted a really important report. That report is going to show how complex these issues are.

“The government has committed to releasing that report but what’s important is that we release that report with the comprehensive government response.

“We want to make sure that the public knows exactly what the government plans to do with any of the advice on the campaign.

“Otherwise, we’re just releasing a report that has more questions than answers and that would not be in the public interest.”

Asked whether pill testing could be introduced across Victoria she said:. “My advice is that there is no current plans for pill testing.

“What the Premier has said is that we rely on health-related responses to many of our alcohol and drug related policies and we are always going to receive further advice in relation to these issues.”

High-dose MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy tablets.

The long awaited report was due to be finalised at the end of 2020 but the government pushed it back blaming the Covid pandemic.

Mr Lay was also asked to rework an initial report because the state government was “not satisfied” with some findings.

Multiple sources told the Herald Sun the initial report didn’t show an “immediate need” for a second injecting room in Melbourne’s CBD.