Drug testing to commence at Gold Coast as Schoolies start

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The annual schoolies festival gets underway on the gold coast this weekend and for the first time a drug testing service will be provided. The aim is to reduce harm, but it'll be a one-off with Queensland’s new LNP government vowing to ditch it.

Transcript

00:00Each year, thousands of teenagers flock to the Gold Coast to party, a post-school pilgrimage

00:11that's been made for decades.

00:15But this summer, there's something new on offer, pill testing.

00:20So how will it work?

00:21The free service will be set up inside the Emergency Treatment Centre on the Esplanade

00:26at Surfers Paradise.

00:28It'll be open from the 16th to the 22nd of November, each day between 2 and 6pm.

00:35We only need a really small amount to get tested, so we need about the size of a matchhead.

00:39Using our infrared spectrometer, we can give a good estimate of what we believe to be the

00:43most prominent ingredient in there.

00:45What we've found is that, particularly where someone finds an unexpected substance in their

00:50sample, almost all of them will dispose of that.

00:53The process takes about 20 minutes, including a conversation with a health worker.

00:59A lot of our discussions are around the risks of overdose and the signs of overdose and

01:03also advising the safest option is to not use drugs.

01:07About a hundred police are assigned to schoolies, but they won't be active around the drug

01:12checking zone.

01:14We will not be doing any enforcement in and around the pill testing areas.

01:18The intention is to allow people, if they have a dangerous drug, to get it tested.

01:25At least it's a bit safer.

01:27Probably better just to have no enabling of it at all.

01:30I think it's a good idea.

01:33Then they can make a conscious choice about, do I want to take this or do I not want to

01:37take this?

01:38But while drug checking is done in several countries around the world, Queensland's new

01:43LNP government does not support it at schoolies.

01:47We want to send a message to young people that there is no safe amount of drugs that

01:50they can use.

01:51They don't need drugs in their lives to have fun.

01:54Meaning there'll be no pill testing at schoolies next year.

01:58Experts are dismayed.

02:00Pill testing has been in place for decades globally.

02:03It's evidence based, we know it works.

02:05We would really encourage the government to look at the outcomes of this and we'd encourage

02:08them to keep it going into the future.

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