Beyond The Valley to host pill testing in state first

Tens of thousands of revellers at Victoria's Beyond The Valley music festival will be able to check illicit drugs for harmful and potentially deadly chemicals. The four-day event at Barunah Plains in Hesse, west of Geelong, will be the first of 10 festivals across Victoria to offer access mobile pill testing as part of a controversial state government-backed trial. The festival is expected to attract a crowd of 35,000 from December 28 to January 1. Premier Jacinta Allan said it would be the largest Australian event to provide pill testing, which evidence showed saved lives by changing behaviour. "We're not going to bury our heads in the sand," Ms Allan told reporters on Sunday. "If a young person is at a festival and got a pill in their hand, they intend to use it but they deserve that health-focused information." The confidential service will test pills, capsules, powders, crystals or liquids to identify harmful chemicals. It will operate from 1pm to 7pm each day and be delivered by Youth Support and Advocacy Service, in partnership with The Loop Australia and Harm Reduction Victoria. "We're aiming to get up to 200 samples a day through the lab," Loop Australia CEO Cameron Francis said. Queensland and the ACT are the only other Australian jurisdictions to have legalised pill testing, with Victoria planning to follow suit at the end of the 18-month trial. The Loop Australia has been developing drug-checking services in Queensland and Mr Francis suggested results had been encouraging. "We've been really consistently able to get about a quarter of people to tell us that they'll use a lower dosage of drugs after talking to one of our health professionals," he said. About 15 per cent of people disposed of their drugs, he said. Mr Francis said the Victorian service would use equipment including infrared for quick results and a military-grade portable drug-screening device for more detailed analysis. MDMA purity was their biggest concern as rising purity worldwide increased the risk of overdose, he said. Five Victorian coronial recommendations since 2021 had pushed for drug-checking services to reduce the risk of overdose deaths. In January, Ms Allan sought advice from the health department after at least 10 people were taken to hospital following suspected drug use at festivals. Victorian paramedics responded to more drug overdoses in the first three months of 2024 than all of 2023, a lot of which were around festivals and other events attended by young people, the premier said. Her predecessor Daniel Andrews rejected proposals for similar trials. State parliament passed legislation in October to allow the $4 million trial and a fixed site to open in mid-2025 in inner Melbourne. Possession and supply of illicit drugs remains illegal and police powers for drug-checking outside the services are unchanged. Mental Health Minister Ingrid Stitt said the government aimed to split the trial across five Victorian festivals this summer and five next summer. More participating festivals will be unveiled in coming weeks.