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‘You will not be reported to the police’: state’s plan to protect revellers at festivals
At a pill testing demonstration on Tuesday, president of Harm Reduction Australia Gino Vumbaca said he understood politicians were nervous about pill testing, but the evidence showed it reduced harm. “I understand it’s difficult for a lot of MPs, but really, we can’t continue to allow what is happening to…
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Meet The Machine That Gives The DNA Of A Pill Right Down To The Type Of Paint
In a crowded room in Sydney, pill testing advocates unveiled the machine used to analyse drugs and explained patiently how their process would work to stop overdoses and save lives. The group outlined how pill testing schemes, far from giving a so-called “green light” to potential drug users, could be…
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PSA supports pill testing trial
Following several recent deaths from illicit drug use at festivals, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia has said that pill testing and drug checking services should be trialled in Australia. PSA National President Dr Chris Freeman says PSA believes further pill testing trials should be conducted at music festivals and other environments where illicit…
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Crossbench to use numbers to pressure Victorian Government to introduce pill testing
Victoria’s diverse Upper House crossbench is demanding the Andrews Government undertake a trial of pill testing, and is vowing to make the issue a key matter in the Parliament. […]
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Greens MP admits to drug use in a bid to bring ‘honesty’ to pill testing debate
Greens MP Cate Faehrmann has admitted that she has “taken MDMA in my 20s and occasionally through my 30s and 40s” in what she says is a bid to bring “honesty” to the debate around recreational drug use in NSW. In an opinion piece written for the Herald, Ms Faehrmann told of…
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How to navigate dinner conversations about pill testing
For those who care to argue back when confronted by someone opposed to pill testing over dinner, we have compiled an exhaustive (and exhausting) artillery of answers for you to put the arguments in their scientific resting place: […]
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MPs from across the political divide push Berejiklian on pill testing
A group of cross-party NSW MPs is urging the Premier to commit to a drug summit after the March election, warning that urgent action is needed to stop people dying at music festivals. In a letter sent to the Premier on Tuesday, Liberals’ MP Shayne Mallard, Greens’ MP Cate Faehrmann,…
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Here’s why doctors are backing pill testing at music festivals across Australia
The members of the Australasian Chapter of Addiction Medicine within the Royal Australasian College of Physicians are the main clinical experts in the field of addiction medicine in this country. Together with the Australian Medical Association and many prominent members of the community with experience in this area we feel…
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‘Enough is enough’: Tide finally turning
It has been shot down so many times after numerous festival deaths, but immense pressure means the tide is beginning to turn on a pill testing. […]
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What is pill testing?
The Australian Medical Association. And Professor Alison Ritter, from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, lists several reasons to pilot pill testing. They include that pills exposed as dangerous have been found to leave the black market; ingredients of tested pills start to correspond to the expected ingredients over time;…
