Queensland government bans pill testing in late night amendment

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Queensland's LNP government has rushed through changes in the state parliament to ban pill testing. Drug safety advocates say the move will cost lives.

Transcript

00:00Pill testing is something that the LNP has long been opposed to here in Queensland.

00:07It's something they campaigned against ahead of last October's state election

00:12and since coming to office they have stopped public funding for drug checking services.

00:17In state parliament last night the LNP government rushed through amendments that will essentially ban all forms of drug checking

00:25including those services that would be privately funded.

00:29The way this would work is that Queensland Health has essentially been stripped of its power

00:33to grant the authority to entities to undertake pill checking services.

00:38Here's the Deputy Premier Jared Blay explaining more.

00:42You have to have a strong anti-drug approach and we are not wavering from this at all.

00:46It was an election commitment by the way.

00:48We said before the election that we did not support pill testing in Queensland.

00:53This government was elected on that platform and we've done exactly what we said we were going to do.

00:57Now not everyone supports these changes.

01:00The Loop Australia which is a not-for-profit service that runs drug checking services.

01:05They've been very critical of this decision by the Queensland Government.

01:09They've accused them of employing sneaky political tactics to get these changes through parliament.

01:15And indeed before these law changes passed parliament yesterday,

01:18the Australian Medical Association of Queensland was reiterating its support for pill testing

01:24and said if the government had any evidence that suggested it cause harm to individuals and communities,

01:30then they should release it.

01:32the

01:46to

01:47the

01:50to

01:51to

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended