Pill testing trial backed by independent review

A "trailblazing" trial run in the Australian Capital Territory, making pill testing available to festival goers, has been endorsed by an independent evaluation report from The Australian National University. The researchers say the trial worked, and could provide a model for how similar services are rolled out across the country. The review was led by Dr Anna Olsen, who examined the outcomes of the pill testing trial conducted at Canberra's Groovin the Moo festival in April 2019. "This report clearly shows pill testing is viable, and under the right circumstances, provides effective, relevant and good health information to people who plan to use illicit drugs," Dr Olsen said. "The service also provided valuable new information on the drug market at the time, detecting a dangerous substance in circulation as well as finding that a high proportion of the drugs presented for testing were MDMA." The trial tested 170 substances with more than 230 participants. During the trial chemical tests revealed seven pills contained the potentially deadly drug N-ethyl pentylone - which was sold as MDMA. As a result of the pill testing service, every user who was told their pills contained N-ethyl pentylone dumped the drug.