This week in Parliament we had the great pleasure to finally pass pill testing bill into law in Victoria.
For over a decade, the Greens have consistently advocated for drug checking as a vital harm reduction tool and to legislate drug use as a health issue rather than a criminal one.
The Greens have introduced multiple bills to the Victorian Parliament over the years.
We worked with the Reason Party to bring the first ever co-sponsored bill in 2019
When this bill failed, the Greens kept campaigning and sponsored another bill in 2023 which made history again as being the first three party co-sponsored bill with the Animal Justice Party and Legalise Cannabis Victoria.
We also went to many festivals and pill testing sites and spoke to community members directly affected by this issue and the trained professionals conducting the tests. Every single one of them supported drug checking.
This bill accepts the reality that people use drugs, and that young people will experiment with them.
Our job in Parliament, as your representatives is to make sure that this doesn’t end in tragedy.
With the introduction of this bill there’ll be a fixed site drug checking location in Melbourne from mid next year and mobile pill testing at 10 festivals over this summer and next at various festivals and events.
People who engage with these services will have their drug samples tested and will be given the chance to speak to a harm reduction expert about the contents of their drugs and the likely risks associated with drug use.
This will probably be the first time that they’ve ever spoken to an expert about their drug use and received advice to help keep them safe.
People will have the chance to discard drugs should they choose and the data from other pill testing locations shows that often people will make this choice if there is something unknown or potentially lethal in their substance.
This bill will also introduce life-saving, accessible and free naloxone vending machines throughout Victoria. Naloxone is an easy to use, rapid overdose reversal drug. It’s easy to administer and can prevent opioid overdose deaths from drugs such as heroin.
This bill has been a long time coming, but we’re so glad that all the advocacy, campaigning and relentless pressure on the government from the Greens, the experts and the community have finally resulted in drug checking becoming law.
This positive change is in line with health advice and drug harm reduction data and we can’t wait to see it rolled out and start saving lives this summer.
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