• Pill Testing Australia to meet with Tasmanian Government

    Pill Testing Australia co-founder Gino Vumbaca said he would provide an explanation on how pill-testing services operated and provide evidence to support a trial in Tasmania. “For many, using pill testing services will be the first opportunity for them to talk to a health professional about their drug use and in some cases will lead to them deciding not to…

  • Harm Reduction Australia & Pill Testing Australia: A Message to All Parliamentarians

    To be clear, the message we always give to every person using our service is simple – if you do not want to encounter drug-related harm the safest way to ensure that is not to use drugs – if they still choose to use the drug after the comprehensive consultation with our analytical, medical and brief intervention teams, then we…

  • Calls for needle exchange program in NSW jails amid rising illicit drug use

    The counsel assisting the commission, Sally Dowling SC said the inquiry would hear evidence that the Justice Health department “actively seeks” a needle exchange program in prisons in NSW to address hepatitis C transmission and “broader health problems” associated with non-sterile drug injecting. However, she said, the state’s corrective services department is “steadfastly opposed to such a program”. […]

  • Report confirms what we thought – pill testing saves lives so let’s make it routine

    While other jurisdictions struggle to get the elements in place to even run a trial, here in the ACT we must contemplate how we make this regular and routine. The report unsurprisingly makes calls for regular pill testing to be part of other music festivals, as well as delivering pill testing in other settings including the idea of a permanent…

  • New pill testing report released

    Dr David Caldicott, an emergency physician with a special interest in toxicology who co-authored the PTA report, told newsGP he was extremely pleased with the findings. He believes a key value of pill testing lies in the opportunity it provides for face-to-face education. ‘I think it provides more evidence that the process of pill testing does what it claims to do, in…

  • New ad shines light on pill testing at Australian festivals

    The ad was released alongside Pill Testing Australia’s (PTA) second report from Groovin The Moo in Canberra on April 28. The advocacy group explained it will no longer be footing the hefty bill to provide the services but stated how it believed the machine had potentially saved lives. PTA tested 170 substances for 234 revellers, finding seven of the samples…

  • Pill Testing Australia reveal findings from their second pilot at Groovin the Moo 2019

    “Pill testing services offer a unique and efficacious opportunity to engage with young people and effect positive behavioural change to reduce the risk of drug-related harm,” said Dr David Caldicott, an Emergency Medicine Consultant who oversaw the clinical team at both pill testing pilots in Canberra. “This cohort is unlikely to have ever had contact with health services in relation to their…

  • New ad shines light on pill testing at Australian festivals

    As the Australian Capital Territory government again refuses to fund pill testing at music festivals, a new ad is shedding light on exactly what kids go through and why so many of them are diving in blind. […]

  • Drug Research Ignores Stable or Pleasurable Use—And That’s a Problem

    Understanding self-regulating drug use as an everyday experience for many people allows us to envision an end to the drug war that doesn’t require an end to drug use. Instead, with a deeper understanding of self-regulation, we can move to end the criminalization of drug use—whether the use is “problematic” or not—and focus on expanding care and support for everyone who…

  • The Elephant on Stage

    Drug users should not be treated as the enemies of festivals, they account for a large proportion of festival-goers and bring in vast amounts of money for organisers. If a festival attracts a certain crowd and pattern of behaviour due to its choice of music, it should go out of its way to protect this group. […]