The pill-testing trial at a music festival in the Australian Capital Territory was an “overwhelming success” and the federal government should help roll out a scheme nationwide, the organisers have said.
In a report on the trial at the Groovin’ the Moo festival in April, released on Wednesday, the Sta-safe consortium said the government should support a “mixed-model” with pill-testing offered permanently at drug, alcohol and syringe services – not just at festivals and special events.
Although at least one federal minister has already scotched suggestions of a national scheme, the ACT’s justice and mental health minister, Shane Rattenbury, agreed the trial was a “success on the day” and offered support to other events and jurisdictions to follow suit.
In the trial on 29 April, 129 people attended pill-testing near the health tent and 83 samples of drugs were tested.
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The report said the pill-testing trial was achieved “without any major or minor incident”, and 42% of those involved said their drug consumption behaviour would change.
A slim majority of participants intended to use their drugs as planned after pill-testing (58%), but many said they would not use illicit drugs (18%), would use fewer (12%), would use another drug instead (5%), and 7% were undecided.
The largest compound detected was MDMA, with quantities above the threshold in 51% of the samples, followed by fillers or cutting agents (20%). Others contained food, fibre or caffeine (4% each).
“The total sample data indicates that the drugs being taken by patrons are of variable quality,” the report said.
Only 39 substances tested (46%) were assessed as likely of “reasonably high purity”, made up of MDMA (32), three examples of filler or cutting agent, and one each of cocaine, ketamine, caffeine and a cathinone drug (N-ethylpentylone).
The report said cathinone was “a dangerous drug that has recently emerged and has been responsible for mass casualty overdoses in New Zealand and more recently, deaths”.
The survey found that of the 81% of people who thought they were consuming MDMA only 45% had MDMA as the major component, and for 54% no compounds were detected above the cut-off threshold.
Results agreed with what patrons thought they were taking in only 43% of cases, leading the report to conclude that their knowledge of what they are taking “is often not well-founded”.
Gino Vambuca, the president of Harm Reduction Australia, said the federal government should do “something concrete” and propose funding for a pill-testing initiative through the ministerial drug and alcohol forum, which brings together state and territory justice ministers.
“We want programs that keep people safe so that we can reduce the risk of harm that can result from using drugs,” he said.
“A lot of people were actually hungry for knowledge ... They were going to pop a pill, and we said, ‘Pause and come talk to us. We’ll analyse what’s in there, and the possible harms and risk from consuming that drug.’
“More information has a more positive effect than people realise, certainly more than telling people to just say no to drugs.”
Asked about the federal government’s position on pill-testing, the arts minister, Mitch Fifield, said, “The best way to protect yourself against illicit substances is not too take them.”
Rattenbury said there was value in having pill-testing at events where people were likely to consume drugs but a more permanent service was “attractive as well”.
“I’d certainly encourage [consultation between states] ... It’s always hardest to do these things the first time, and we’d be very happy to share the knowledge we gleaned from [the trial],” he said.
The safety testing advisory service at festivals and events (Sta-safe) consortium consists of Harm Reduction Australia, Australian Drug Observatory, Noffs Foundation, DanceWize, Harm Reduction Victoria, and Students for Sensible Drug Policy Australia.
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