Recently three people in Sydney were hospitalised after taking pills that they believed to be MDMA but actually contained a powerful opioid, nitazene. Individuals taking as little as half a tablet were hospitalised. 

In response to these hospitalizations, NSW Health issued an urgent warning about the tablets, describing them as orange or red, rectangular in shape, featuring a red bull logo and text.

This incident has reignited calls for drug testing.

While the ACT implemented a fixed pill-testing site in July 2022 as part of a trial until the end of 2024, NSW has not implemented such measures, despite mounting pressure during the 2024 summer festival season.

Three weeks before these deaths, 8 others overdosed on MDMA at a music festival in Melbourne. At the time, Lydia Shelly, President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL), said, “Pill testing is a crucial harm reduction measure that can save lives and prevent tragic incidents like those witnessed in Melbourne.”

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