Queensland becomes first state to ban pill testing, experts fear crackdown will cost lives

Queensland has made history as the first Australian state to outlaw pill testing, after the LNP Government rushed legislation through parliament late Thursday night, a decision health experts say will put lives at risk.

The move fulfils Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie’s promise to block pill testing service Cheqpoint from reopening with private funding after its $1.5 million state funding was scrapped earlier this year.

“If people are proceeding with privately funded pill testing, then the Government will take whatever action is necessary … we do not tolerate it,” Mr Bleijie said.

The ban was passed at the same time as the long-awaited release of a $400,000 University of Queensland report into a year-long pill testing trial in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and at major music festivals.

The trial involved 1500 samples from 1341 people and revealed that just 57 per cent of drugs were what users thought they were taking, with the rest tainted with unexpected and sometimes deadly substances, including the synthetic opioids known as nitazenes, already linked to multiple fatalities interstate, The Courier Mail reported.

Researchers found the testing program created a rare opportunity for harm reduction, with three-quarters of participants having their first conversation about drug health. It also allowed contaminated batches to be flagged and warnings issued across the state.

But the Government highlighted the limited behavioural change observed, with only two in five participants discarding their drugs and one in five saying they would take less.

Just 43 users completed a follow-up survey, with only five reporting they had stopped using at least one drug.

Cheqpoint operator Loop Australia CEO Cameron Francis said the decision to legislate a ban was reckless.

“The Government has no plan to address our spiralling overdose crisis, which now claims more lives than the state’s road toll,” he said.

“Our service was ready to operate without government funding.

“For the Government to outlaw it through legislation is a shortsighted move that will cost lives.”

The ban has been condemned by medical groups, including the AMA Queensland and RACGP, who had urged the Government to consider the evidence first.

The family of Josh Tam, who died of an MDMA overdose at a Queensland festival in 2018, said pill testing might have saved him.

“Josh may be with us today had this facility been available to him,” they said.

Labor attempted to delay the bill earlier in the week by calling for an inquiry, but failed. Health Minister Tim Nicholls is under fire for withholding the University of Queensland report until the day of the vote.