Dire need for pill testing service, Vic agencies say

Seventy-seven organisations have signed a letter to the Victorian government, urging it to follow coroners court recommendations on new psychoactive substances.

The court previously advised the health department to implement a drug checking service to reduce the number of people who die after taking drugs from unregulated markets.

The services, which would be in both permanent locations and mobile facilities, would allow people to check the content and dosage of their drugs.

Data from the services could then feed into early warning systems, giving the community real-time information about the status of local drug markets.

The services have already been implemented in at least 28 countries, with the ACT currently running a drug checking service and Queensland to launch one next year.

NSW is also under pressure to introduce pill testing and has promised a drug summit next year with experts to chart a pathway for reform.

"Many harms caused by the prohibition of drugs are caused by lack of good information - this is one step towards addressing that," Harm Reduction Victoria's Nick Wallis said.

"If it can save one life, then it's an important step."

Forty-seven Victorians died from new psychoactive substances in 2021-22, up from three deaths in 2017-18.

The health and community agencies say pill testing services would stop people from dying.

"We have seen many preventable deaths from people who have overdosed on hazardous substances that mimicked traditional drugs," APOD Family Support's Debbie Warner said.

"As a mother, I can only look with envy to those other countries which have progressed these reforms and mourn in solidarity with the many parents who have lost children to preventable overdose."

The groups that have signed the letter include the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association, Victorian Council of Social Service, Youth Affairs Council and Victorian Ambulance Union.

Australian Associated Press