Brunswick Street in Fitzroy will home the first fixed location for Victoria's pill testing service.
Following a start to the mobile pill testing trial over summer, the state government has named 95 Brunswick Street in Fitzroy as the location for Victoria’s first fixed site.
Minister for Mental Health Ingrid Stitt today announced the Victorian Pill Testing Service will open by August and be located close to one of Melbourne’s most popular nightlife hubs as well as public transport, health care and social services.
Fitzroy announced as pill testing service location
- The Victorian Pill Testing Service will open by August
- Location: 95 Brunswick Street
- Set to operate Thursday to Saturday
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Set to operate Thursday to Saturday, it is part of the government’s pill testing trial and will offer free, confidential, and non-judgmental harm reduction advice from health professionals.
Like the mobile service, the fixed site aims to reduce drug harm and save lives through the testing of most pills, capsules, powders, crystals, and liquids.
It will be able to detect highly dangerous synthetic opioids like fentanyl and Nitazenes, which can be mixed with other drugs and cause death.
Pill testing also offers real-time surveillance, which is expected to boost Victoria’s surveillance programs and help provide early detection and rapid assessment of new synthetic drugs.
The fixed site will be operated by the same trusted and experienced consortium running the mobile testing trial; Youth Support and Advocacy Service, The Loop Australia, and Harm Reduction Victoria.
Melbourne Health, Youth Projects, and Metabolomics Australia (University of Melbourne) will partner with the consortium to deliver medical support, social services, and secondary and confirmatory testing of substances.
It follows a run of mobile pill testing at five major music festivals over summer, where of the almost 1400 samples tested, the main drugs detected were MDMA, ketamine and cocaine, with 11 per cent of samples not what people expected their drugs to be.
The mobile service will continue at five more festivals this upcoming summer.
Other key insights from the trial so far include:
- For 65 per cent service users, it was their first time having a harm reduction conversation with a health professional and more than 30 per cent said they would take a smaller amount as a result
- 91 per cent of service users were aged between 18 to 30 years old
- Two statewide drug advisories issued for a high-dosage MDMA pill and high-risk 4-CMC sold as MDMA.
The state government noted this is an implementation trial to see what model works best in Victoria, due to the volume of evidence that pill testing saves lives.
Minister for Mental Health Ingrid Stitt said this is about ‘saving lives’.
“This is about saving lives. No drug is safe, but with testing and open, health-focused conversations, we are helping Victorians make more informed and safer choices.”
“Our pill testing trial has already shown young people want the information that could keep them safe and now we’ll support even more Victorians with our fixed site service in Fitzroy.”
Find out more here.
