In a small potential shift in policy, the ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has not ruled out eventually introducing pill testing facilities in Canberra as the Greens called for the introduction of facilities to curb overdoses and raise drug awareness.
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A pill testing trial would see the introduction of facilities, particularly at music festivals like Spilt Milk, where users could have their pills tested for harmful chemicals which may lead to an overdose.
Ecstasy was Canberra's most popular drug and it was extremely easy to find, according to a recent report and on Sunday the Greens renewed calls for a pill testing trial, launching a petition lobbying the ACT government with Leader of the ACT Greens Shane Rattenbury warning people's lives were at risk while pill testing was unavailable.
While previously the Chief Minister hadn't definitively ruled in or out the introduction of such facilities, responding to Mr Rattenbury's comments on Sunday he said the ACT government was constantly looking at ways to reduce harm, supply and demand of illicit drugs.
"These approaches could include exploring the benefits of pill testing facilities available to the public in future," Mr Barr said.
It marked a slight change of language on the trial which has been welcomed by health expert Professor Gabrielle Cooper, who was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for her services to the pharmacy sector on Thursday.
She said the ACT had traditionally taken a health approach, rather than a law enforcement approach, to drugs in the capital and warned drugs like ecstasy could prove dangerous because of the chemicals contained in them.
"The challenge for us is it's not like the pharmaceutical industry that has to put their drugs up for testing, this is a tidal wave of very dangerous drugs," Ms Cooper said.
"What we've seen in the UK and Europe is having contact with well qualified experts makes pill users think about what they're going to do."
"It makes young people think about, 'Well if I'm getting this tested, are there some risks?' It might be better than getting your information from a dealer. He's a salesman."
Mr Rattenbury said Canberra had suffered 'bad batches' of pills like the recent batch in Melbourne that lead to three deaths and 20 hospitalisations earlier in January.
"The majority of the community understands that while we have never seen a policy that has managed to stop people taking drugs, in other jurisdictions they have developed policies that have stopped people dying because of them," Mr Rattenbury said.
"It is clear that our current approach to drug policy is not working, and all the evidence shows that focussing on treatment and harm reduction is the most effective way to reduce the prevalence of drug use."
The Chief Minister's said there were complex legal and health implications that needed to be considered before pill testing could be done safely.
"It would be naive and irresponsible to pretend these issues don't exist," Mr Barr said.
Ms Cooper said Australians didn't have access to any way to test pills, with no DIY kits available for people in the privacy of their homes, and facilities would be highly effective at festivals or clubs.
"No one would consider having a breathalyser test at a pub a bad idea, so having a pill testing facility at a rave would make sense," she said.
