Significant Majority Of Australians Now Support Pill Testing

Pill testing is a very divisive topic, but it seems like the tide is definitely turning in favour of it, according to a new nationwide survey.

The Australian National University's long-running election study has revealed nearly two-thirds of people support the idea of having harm minimisation tactics at music festivals and other events like pill testing.

The findings have been published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review, with 63 per cent of people saying pill testing should be allowed, while 33 per cent strongly agreeing with that premise.

Alternatively, 22 per cent of people were against the idea, with 13 per cent strongly disagreeing.

ANU's Ian McAllister and Toni Makkai said in a joint statement: "The young and those who do not attend church are most likely to express support. Supporters of other liberal social opinions, such as the legalisation of marijuana, are also strongly supportive of pill testing."

It certainly appears the public's support for pill testing is increasing considering 57 per cent supported the idea in a study conducted by the National Drug Strategy Household Survey last year.

The issue of pill testing came to ahead in 2019 when the New South Wales government rejected the recommedations from a coronial inquest into drug-related deaths.

One of the suggestions was to introduce pill testing as studies and examples had showed it can help prevent unnecessary death. Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the tests would give people 'a false sense of security' and decided not to do it. Victoria's Labor government also rejected calls to trial pill testing at music events.

The technology was trialled at Groovin' in the Moo festival in the ACT and it was hailed a raging success. More than 170 substances were tested during the event with seven being found to have potentially deadly ingredients.

Gino Vumbaca from Pill Testing Australia said: "We helped reduce drug-related harm by giving young people access to a medical service they would not have had otherwise.

"The pilot was again overwhelmingly successful by any measure but particularly by doing everything possible to keep our kids safe.

"The simple truth is that it is time to take practical evidence based steps to make parties and festivals safer for our kids."

The tests found a large percent of the drugs had a much higher purity than last year's trial.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, Drugs, Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie