Queensland is setting up pill testing initiatives under Labor’s governance, despite the Opposition’s criticisms of a ‘soft on drugs’ approach. Image Source: Michael J. Ermarth, via: Wikimedia Commons
Pill testing will likely be available at Schoolies on the Gold Coast this year, unless Queensland LNP wins government in October and scraps the scheme.
The pill testing service was announced for roll out in Surfers Paradise by Health Minister Shannon Fentiman, who confirmed that the safety initiative would be “free, voluntary, and confidential” if Labor remains in government.
Fentiman further described the scheme as “involving the testing of substances a person is intending to use, providing a health intervention that aims to change a person’s behaviour, and reducing their risk of harms associated with illicit drug use”.
Jarrod Bleijie, Deputy Opposition Leader in Queensland, has announced that the LNP did not support pill testing and would remove the safety initiative if elected during the upcoming state election.
“The LNP does not support the soft on drug approach by the Labor Party in Queensland,” said Bleijie.
“We do not support the weakening of drug laws in the state that we’ve seen under the Labor government and Shannon Fentiman.”
Fentiman criticised the LNP’s response to what she described as “life-saving services”.
“It’s again disappointing that these critical services are at risk if the LNP win the election, said Fentiman.
Pill testing initiatives were originally carried out in Queensland at the Rabbits Eat Lettuce Festival in March, where 250 people tested their substances.
This was followed by establishing a fixed-site pill testing service in April, called CheQpoint, in Bowen Hills, Brisbane. A second site was established in July at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast.
In the first month of operation 40 people tested 80 drug samples at the Bowen Hills site. Of these samples, 74 per cent were unregulated substances such as LSD, MDMA, and Alprazolam, according to a state government spokesperson.
Over half the people who tested drugs chose to discard drugs at the site, with a further 16 per cent reporting they would discard the substances themselves, according to the spokesperson.
The Schoolies scheme is part of the state government’s $1 million commitment to fund drug-checking services and is estimated to cost $80,000 to run.
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