After high-profile drug-related festival deaths in 2019,and pill-testing trials in the ACT,then Health Minister Steven Milesruled out a similar approach in Queensland while saying the state would look closely at the work done in Canberra.
But there has been little public discussion or updates from the government since. However,the state’s mental health commissioner Ivan Frkovic told an estimates hearing last month that the idea had been “on the agenda”.
Asked by Greens Maiwar MP Michael Berkman,a long-time advocate of the testing services,Frkovic said there was “certainly organisational capacity” to roll them out at music festivals,but there were issues regarding licensing for the organisations which have been behind them interstate.
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“I think there has been some progress in terms of being able to get,what I’m calling broadly,some level of licensing for organisations to be able to do that,” he said.
“I think there is evidence from other jurisdictions in Australia,but also internationally,which would suggest that having drug checking facilities,particularly temporary ones — or even fixed sites — can contribute to saving lives.”
The confidential services,which have been trialled in pop-up festival settings and now also feature at a permanent clinic in Canberra’s CBD as part of a further trial,test drugs and provide advice about potentially dangerous substances within,giving potential users an opportunity to bin them.