“We will have a number of options about the extent to which pill testing is a regular feature of music festivals here in the ACT or potentially a more regular feature of our drug policy and harm minimisation approach, which can include funding provided to Pill Testing Australia,” Health Minister Meegan Fitzharris said. […]

Mr Harper was one of several MPs who travelled to the ACT for a pill-testing demonstration one day before the trial. “There’s interest there (in pill testing); I wouldn’t have gone down there if there wasn’t,” he said. “After 25 years as a paramedic, having transported people out of our own Groovin the Moo festival … there is harm minimisation…

Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drugs Council of Tasmania chief executive Alison Lai said it was time for Tasmania’s discussion to move away from whether pill-testing worked, to how it could help save lives. “Pill-testing is first and foremost a health service, staffed by qualified medical professionals,” she said. […]

Seven substances presented contained n-ethylpentylone, which could have potentially fatal effects, and all seven of them were discarded according to the patrons’ wishes. Now if this isn’t proof that pill testing works, we’re not too sure what is. But, alas, it’s still not enough for Gladys. Via The Music, Berejiklian spoke to 7 News and said there’s still no evidence that pill testing…

 “Pill Testing Australia is a not-for-profit, we’re only looking at cost recovery,” says PTA co-founder, Gino Vumbaca. The organisation is crowdfunding to run further pill-testing trials at music festivals, as well as exploring the use of public subscriptions and promoter-based funding. PTA has ruled out charging festivalgoers for the service. […]

Speaking to Sunrise this morning, pill testing advocate Dr David Caldicott said he was pleased with the results, which indicated that festival-goers desperately want more information on what they’re consuming. “There was no hesitation for binning the more dangerous products,” he said. “One thing that should be emphasised is that when they were told about the potential hazards, many were…

More than 230 festival-goers were reported to have used the pill-testing service, with seven substances found to contain the potentially lethal n-ethylpentylone. All but one of those who were told their drugs contained the dangerous substance dumped them in amnesty bins provided by the pill-testing service, while one person said they planned to dump it. […]

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Representatives from Queensland Health, the New South Wales Coroner’s Office, New South Wales Special Commission of Inquiry into Ice usage and a group of Victorian crossbenchers were among the visitors at the pill-testing facility on Saturday afternoon. The ACT is currently the only jurisdiction in Australia to allow pill-testing. […]

Emergency doctor and pill testing advocate David Caldicott said the machine answered a lot of the questions and criticisms levelled at pill testing in Australia. Dr Caldicott said it was the first time such a machine had been used in a festival environment to test drugs. […]