An expansion to drug testing services in Victoria is a step in the right direction, according to the GP college.
A new drug testing site in Victoria has garnered support from the RACGP in a move labelled as a “huge step forward” by the state government.
The Victorian Government plans to expand its drug testing initiative to a statewide level, including major music festivals both this year and the next.
Proximity to other health and social services at the first drug testing clinic in Fitzroy was major plus in the RACGP’s books, with the college endorsing the model’s capacity to reach vulnerable patients.
“This is another key step forward in saving lives,” RACGP Victoria chair Dr Anita Munoz said.
“These sites are working – as of June this year, the state’s mobile sites helped more than 1500 people and tested close to 1400 samples of illicit drugs.
“Every single one of those substances tested could contain a lethal substance that the person visiting the site didn’t even realise they were taking.”
The drug testing sites are free for patients and also provide health information and constructive guidance on substance use behaviours.
As Victoria comes into its music festival season, opening up conversations with health professionals on drug usage has been a priority of the initiative.
“We know that in Australia and also from international evidence that pill testing is beneficial,” RACGP Victoria’s addiction medicine spokesperson Dr Eric Hadinata told The Medical Republic.
“What we’d like to do is to have a conversation with the public in general, to increase the acceptance of harm reduction measures.
“We know that young people attending festivals have their whole life ahead of them, and it’s a reality that we have to accept that some of them will say recreational illicit drugs and they don’t know what they’re ingesting, and if we can help them make an informed choice, it can make all the difference and potentially save more lives at risk.”
Up to 65% of patients that become involved with the service have said that it was their first conversation with a health professional about drug and alcohol safety, according to the college, with 30% stating that said conversations have convinced users to use less of substances.
The RACGP has also reiterated that the drug testing sites are in no way an encouragement to use illicit substances and are a harm reduction measure.
Victoria’s moves to expand drug services that of NSW, but stands in contrast to Queensland’s recent call to ban all drug testing.
“I keep hearing every now and then that politicians would like to do a war on drugs, and we have to think about it like, what are we really having a war on?” Dr Hadinata told TMR.
“Most of us will know friends or families who have been affected by harms from unintentional drug overdoses.
“So are we really making a war on drugs, or are we really making a war on our friends and families?”
