Royal Australian College of GPs call for pill testing in Top End ahead of BASSINTHEGRASS 2025

The Royal Australian College of GPs has called on the Northern Territory Government to embrace pill testing “before lives are lost”, adding to a long list of credible health groups that have called for the service to be offered. Read the details.

Nitazenes were found hidden inside bandaid packaging and in pill form by the Australian Federal Police. Picture: Australian Border Force

The Royal Australian College of GPs has called on the Northern Territory Government to implement pill testing “before lives are lost”, adding to a long list of credible health groups that have called for the service to be offered.

It comes more than two weeks after NT Health issued a warning for the deadly synthetic opioid known as nitazene, considered to be up to 10 times strong than the ultra-deadly fentanyl.

Nitazenes are sold in a variety of forms such as powders, tablets, nasal sprays and vape liquids — with as few as two milligrams enough to kill a person.

It also comes less than a month from the Territory’s biggest music festival BASSINTHEGRASS on May 17.

With BASSINTHEGRASS just around the corner, health groups are pushing the NT Government to implement pill testing.

Most recently, the drug was detected by the Australian Federal Police in fake pain medication that was disguised as a legitimate pharmaceutical.

Dr Marguerite Tracy, an alcohol and other drug spokeswoman for RACGP, said there was an urgent need for drug testing services.

“Drug testing services … save lives,” she said.

“Particularly fixed sites that people can visit at times of their choosing, are a sensible harm reduction measure, because it at least gives them some idea of what they’re taking.

“This is not about condoning illegal drug use; it’s about helping people who are taking illicit drugs make an informed decision.

Dr Marguerite Tracy. Picture Supplied

While Dr Tracy acknowledged that Australia was making “some headway”, she said a greater expansion of services was needed.

She said a number of jurisdictions — Victoria and New South Wales — had reported “very positive results” in its initial drug testing services, whereas the ACT had already opened its first fixed-site in July 2022.

“Other jurisdictions don’t have drug testing services at all, and we need that to change,” she said.

Dr Tracy also called for more treatment services for people who are dependent on opioids.

Pill testing facilities at Beyond The Valley. Picture: Alison Wynd

“It’s vital that we expand access to opioid substitute therapy, such as methadone and buprenorphine, and boost the number of GPs and nurse practitioners who can prescribe these medications,” she said.

“Another priority is getting naloxone, a medication that can temporarily reverse an opioid overdose, into the hands of people likely to experience, or witness, an overdose.”

In her final message, Dr Tracy urged the government to implement the service.

“Overdose deaths don’t discriminate, and they don’t happen to ‘other people’, it could be your child, friend, family member or colleague,” she said.

“New, powerfully dangerous drugs are hitting our shores more regularly, and lives will be lost unless action is taken. At the end of the day – every life matters.”