CanTEST’s second year of saving lives

ABC NEWS (Australia)

About one in ten substances tested by Australia's first fixed-site drug checking service, here in Canberra are dumped by their users. Cantest is marking its second year of operations in the ACT and experts say it's saving lives.

Transcript

00:00The Free and Confidential Service has collected almost 3,000 drug samples over the past two

00:08years. Of those, about 1 in 10 substances was voluntarily discarded once people found

00:15out what was in them. MDMA, cocaine and ketamine were most commonly tested, followed by meth

00:21and heroin. Tests show the median purity of samples also increased across the board in

00:27the second year, most notably when testing cocaine and heroin. The service has issued

00:3320 public safety alerts after discovering concerning substances. It's also unearthed

00:39four previously undetected drugs. We've discovered drugs that have never been seen anywhere else

00:45in the world before as a consequence of the involvement of our amazing chemistry team

00:49from ANU and that information can be shared globally. We may be able to influence and

00:55stop trends right at the very beginning. CanTest has provided more than 4,000 interventions

01:01for clients as part of its health, alcohol and other drug support services. It's also

01:07given out 225 nasal naloxone sprays, which can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

01:14One of the key outcomes that we're interested in is that they use fewer drugs, they choose

01:19not to mix their drugs, they use their drugs in such a way that it doesn't mean that they

01:23have to go to hospital. The ACT government has committed to extending the funding for

01:28CanTest until June 2027.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended