In response to the rise of a deadly drug and a string of overdoses, the Victorian Government announced on Monday that they will conduct an 18-month pill testing trial with plans to make the service permanent.

Calls are now mounting for NSW Premier Chris Minns to follow suit.

Despite increasing pressure on the premier to implement pill testing, last week's budget included no funding for the long-awaited Drug Summit.

Pill testing is a harm reduction strategy that allows individuals to identify the contents of a pill, preventing the use of unusually strong or contaminated drugs.

Lydia Shelly, the president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, has also urged Premier Chris Minns and the NSW Labor Party to fulfill their election commitment by announcing the date for a 5-day NSW Drug Summit, as promised to the people of NSW.

“Prior to the election Drug Law Reform was one of Labor’s ‘top priorities’,” said Shelly.

“For the last two elections Labor has promised to hold a drug summit to bring ‘all the policy experts together’. With the Government’s radio silence on this issue, the people of NSW continue to suffer from an outdated, harmful approach to drugs.”

Emphasising the need for health-informed responses, Shelly said, “We are in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis where vulnerable people find themselves with very limited options to seek treatment and support for problematic drug use.”

“We know that this group faces needless, expensive and harmful interactions with the criminal justice system – all of which can be disastrous for them, their families and our community.”

“People who face drug dependency should be able to access treatment and support services, not gaol.”

“We know from UNSW’s Policy Modelling Program that Australian governments spend more on law enforcement in illicit drug policy than treatment, prevention and harm reduction combined, with nearly 65% of the funds spent on law enforcement, and less than 2% on harm reduction.” 

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