NewsBite

Pill Testing

Advertisement
The state’s first permanent pill-testing sites will close from April 4.

Pill testers say people will die as Qld service forced to close

The group behind two south-east pill-testing sites said they picked up extremely potent synthetic opioids three times since November – including last Friday.

  • Courtney Kruk

Latest

Greens MP Cate Faehrmann says the cost of hiring police for NSW festivals is 12 times that of Victoria.

Police should back off drug users, says report

The final report from NSW Labor’s Drug Summit was published on Thursday.

  • Frances Howe
The Queensland government has released a tender calling for a provider to run its pill testing service.

Pill-testing scrapped as deadly opioid emerges

A state government has been slammed for abandoning permanent pill-testing clinics after extremely potent synthetic opioids were found in Australian wastewater for the first time.

  • Savannah Meacham
NSW Government’s pill testing trial site at the Yours & Owls Festival in Wollongong.

Long-overdue pill testing trial a welcome start

Other Australian jurisdictions are already looking beyond festivals as the best place to provide drug-checking services.

  • The Herald's View
Wollongong’s Yours and Owls festival.

First NSW music festival to allow pill testing revealed

The announcement marks a major win for drug reform advocates who have long called for pill testing in the state. 

  • Michael McGowan
Signs to the pill-testing service.

Victoria’s first pill-testing clinic is due to close for the day. But the revellers just keep coming

As the sun sinks and the festival reaches its peak, a steady steam of young people line up with illicit pills, powders and crystals for testing.

  • Rachael Dexter
Advertisement
Beyond the Valley music festival.

Festival-goer overdoses on first day of Victorian pill-testing trial

Paramedics were called to the Beyond the Valley festival after a man in his 20s suffered a drug overdose.

  • Rachael Dexter and Marta Pascual Juanola
The Minns government is facing pressure from within its caucus to introduce pill testing ahead of the summer music festival season.

NSW Labor considering pill testing this summer

MPs including the parliamentary secretary for health have put their names to an open letter calling on their own government to overhaul drug policy in NSW.

  • Michael McGowan
Nitzaene, a type of synthetic opioid, was presented to Brisbane’s permanent pill testing site this week, prompting a health alert. The drugs vary in strength but can be stronger than fentanyl and up to 500 times more potent than heroin.

Fake painkiller discovered in Brisbane more dangerous than heroin

The drug was sold as oxycodone and purchased online, highlighting the dangers of counterfeit pharmaceuticals. 

  • Courtney Kruk
Pill testing has been in place for the first time this year at schoolies on the Gold Coast.

LNP casts doubt over future of pill testing at schoolies

Just 27 tests have been conducted so far at schoolies, equating to $8000 per test, says Queensland’s health minister.

  • Cameron Atfield

Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/topic/pill-testing-1ml1