Toxicology expert warns festival pill-testing ‘lacks accuracy’

The death at the weekend of Josh Tam, 22, at a NSW festival has stoked new debate about whether pill-testing should be allowed.

The death at the weekend of Josh Tam, 22, at the Lost Paradise festival on the NSW central coast stoked new debate about whether pill testing should be deployed.

A toxicology expert has said pill-testing at music festivals would probably lack the accuracy to provide assurances a drug was safe as debate rages about how to prevent further party drug deaths.

The death at the weekend of Josh Tam, 22, at the Lost Paradise festival on the NSW central coast stoked new debate about whether pill testing should be deployed in a bid to stop drug overdoses.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at the weekend again ruled out a pill-testing trial as police warned people not to take drugs at two festivals, Falls and Field Day today.

Forensic toxicologist and marketing director at Safework laboratories Andrew Leibie said a “very sophisticated environment” was needed to give people “the information they need” about the safety and potency of drugs.

“You can’t get that level of ­accuracy in a tent at a music festival … On-site pill-testing doesn’t answer how much ecstasy is within the drug,” he said.

However, emergency health consultant David Caldicott said pill-testing had been proven to prevent deaths overseas, and defended it as important for police in “mapping the movement of illicit drugs around the country”.

Police warned of a “dangerous orange pill” in wide circulation.

Malcolm Turnbull’s son Alex yesterday urged Ms Berejiklian to soften her opposition to testing.

He said he hoped she could “come around on this before some rich donor has to unzip a body bag and see their blue-lipped lifeless child in a morgue and hear … that pill testing would have helped”.