Crossbench teams up on pill testing trial, as government says it’s open to cannabis discussion

Pill testing could be trialled over next year’s music festival season if three minor Victorian parties get their way on Thursday, a day after the state government announced it was open to talks about decriminalising personal use of cannabis.

Mental Health Minister Ingrid Stitt said on Wednesday the government was “amenable” to engaging with Legalise Cannabis, experts and the community on whether to allow adults to carry small quantities of the drug, signalling the potential for significant drug reform.

Animal Justice MP Georgie Purcell, Greens MP Aiv Puglielli, and Rachel Payne from Legalise Cannabis will introduce a joint bill on Thursday to launch a pill testing trial.Credit: Justin McManus

The Greens, Animal Justice and Legalise Cannabis parties are also shifting their attention to pill testing on Thursday when they will push for a trial from next summer.

The crossbench MPs will introduce a joint bill to launch a two-year trial, with the potential for a four-year extension. They hope to establish a mobile pill-testing service for music festivals, as well as a fixed site.

Pill testing, which allows a user to have the contents of their illicit drugs to be analysed before consumption, is being trialled in Queensland and the ACT. But the bill will fail in Victoria without the support of Labor or the opposition.

A Victorian coroner in September became the fourth coroner in six years to call on the state to introduce pill testing, after the death of a 26-year-old man who took an MDMA pill at a music festival at Flemington last year.

Coroner John Cain said it was impossible to know whether a drug-checking service would have saved the man’s life, but that it would have given him the option to check its composition and make an informed decision. A testing service could give tailored harm-reduction advice, Cain said.

Seventy-seven organisations, including unions, health and legal bodies, last month released an open letter supporting pill testing and offered to pay for a trial.

Minor parties behind the bill, which will be debated next year, together make up seven of the 40 seats in the upper house and are often relied on by Labor to pass its agenda.

“Every summer festival season, we know people take drugs,” Greens drug harm-reduction spokesman Aiv Puglielli said. “If Labor backs our pilot and it saves even one life next summer, it will be worth it.”

Georgie Purcell, from the Animal Justice Party, said pill testing would not encourage drug use but it would make it safer for those who used drugs.

“Growing up and experimenting should not be a death sentence,” Purcell said.

Legalise Cannabis MP Rachel Payne said the “just say no” approach had failed and deaths at major music festivals could be prevented.

Her Legalise Cannabis party had a win on Wednesday when Stitt revealed the government was open to consulting on the possibility of allowing personal use of cannabis, a significant shift in the state’s approach to drug law. Stitt said the government was unable to support the bill “at this time”.

“However, the government is amenable to ongoing discussions with the Legalise Cannabis Victoria party on this topic and a process that will take the advice of experts and engage with the community. And I’m looking forward to continuing those important discussions,” Stitt told the parliament.

The Age has asked the government to clarify what form the engagement would take.

Victorian Legalise Cannabis MPs David Ettershank and Rachel Payne.Credit: Joe Armao

Adults could legally possess small quantities for personal use and grow up to six plants under the Legalise Cannabis proposal, the first of three bills the party has planned towards full regulation.

Cannabis could be given as a gift but not sold under the initial plan. Driving while impaired, supplying to children and taking the drug in public would remain crimes.

Legalise Cannabis argues the state wastes resources enforcing the law and could invest in health and education instead, while raising revenue by taxing the drug if it was sold in a legal market.

Payne said criminalising adults who consumed cannabis often led to poorer outcomes for vulnerable people.

“I want the Victorian premier to be brave,” Payne said.

Libertarian MP David Limbrick also gave a fiery speech supporting bold drug reform and said the bill did not go far enough.

Under former premier Daniel Andrews, Labor opposed any changes to drug laws involving cannabis.

A two-year parliamentary inquiry in Victoria, spearheaded by influential former Reason Party MP Fiona Patten, in 2021 recommended the government “investigate the impacts of legalising cannabis for adult personal use”. It was set to recommend legalisation but was watered down by Labor MPs.

The recreational use of cannabis is illegal in most of Australia, although minor offences have been decriminalised and replaced with fines in South Australia, the ACT and Northern Territory.

In 2020, the ACT went further and allowed adults to grow up to two plants and possess small amounts of cannabis without penalty.

A Pennington Institute report found 37 per cent of people over 14 have used the drug at some point, and a 2019 survey by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found more people support legalisation than not.

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