State-first fixed drug test service aims to save lives
Victoria's first fixed pill-testing site will open in Fitzroy, one of Melbourne's most popular nightlife areas, near public transport, health care and social services, following a successful trial during the summer festival period.
The service will offer testing for most pills, capsules, powders, crystals, and liquids and be able to detect highly dangerous synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and Nitazenes, which can be mixed with other drugs and cause death.
The site will launch by August and operate Thursday to Saturday, staffed by Youth Support and Advocacy Service, The Loop Australia, and Harm Reduction Victoria, which also runs mobile testing sites.
Medical support, social services, and secondary and confirmatory testing of substances will also be offered.
The service will also act as real-time surveillance, allowing health authorities to detect and rapidly assess new types of synthetic drugs in circulation.
Almost 1400 samples were tested, with MDMA, ketamine and cocaine the main drugs detected and two statewide drug advisories issued.
Two-thirds of service users said it was their first time having a conversation with a health professional about drug harm reduction and more than 30 per cent said they would take a smaller amount.
The service is about saving lives, Mental Health Minister Ingrid Stitt said.
"No drug is safe but with testing and open, health-focused conversations, we are helping Victorians make more informed and safer choices," she said.
Australia's first fixed-site drug checking service opened in Canberra in 2022.
A state's first-of-its-kind standalone clinic where people can test their drugs for dangerous ingredients will save lives.
Victoria's first fixed pill-testing site will open in Fitzroy, one of Melbourne's most popular nightlife areas, near public transport, health care and social services, following a successful trial during the summer festival period.
The service will offer testing for most pills, capsules, powders, crystals, and liquids and be able to detect highly dangerous synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and Nitazenes, which can be mixed with other drugs and cause death.
The site will launch by August and operate Thursday to Saturday, staffed by Youth Support and Advocacy Service, The Loop Australia, and Harm Reduction Victoria, which also runs mobile testing sites.
Medical support, social services, and secondary and confirmatory testing of substances will also be offered.
The service will also act as real-time surveillance, allowing health authorities to detect and rapidly assess new types of synthetic drugs in circulation.
Almost 1400 samples were tested, with MDMA, ketamine and cocaine the main drugs detected and two statewide drug advisories issued.
Two-thirds of service users said it was their first time having a conversation with a health professional about drug harm reduction and more than 30 per cent said they would take a smaller amount.
The service is about saving lives, Mental Health Minister Ingrid Stitt said.
"No drug is safe but with testing and open, health-focused conversations, we are helping Victorians make more informed and safer choices," she said.
Australia's first fixed-site drug checking service opened in Canberra in 2022.
A state's first-of-its-kind standalone clinic where people can test their drugs for dangerous ingredients will save lives.
Victoria's first fixed pill-testing site will open in Fitzroy, one of Melbourne's most popular nightlife areas, near public transport, health care and social services, following a successful trial during the summer festival period.
The service will offer testing for most pills, capsules, powders, crystals, and liquids and be able to detect highly dangerous synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and Nitazenes, which can be mixed with other drugs and cause death.
The site will launch by August and operate Thursday to Saturday, staffed by Youth Support and Advocacy Service, The Loop Australia, and Harm Reduction Victoria, which also runs mobile testing sites.
Medical support, social services, and secondary and confirmatory testing of substances will also be offered.
The service will also act as real-time surveillance, allowing health authorities to detect and rapidly assess new types of synthetic drugs in circulation.
Almost 1400 samples were tested, with MDMA, ketamine and cocaine the main drugs detected and two statewide drug advisories issued.
Two-thirds of service users said it was their first time having a conversation with a health professional about drug harm reduction and more than 30 per cent said they would take a smaller amount.
The service is about saving lives, Mental Health Minister Ingrid Stitt said.
"No drug is safe but with testing and open, health-focused conversations, we are helping Victorians make more informed and safer choices," she said.
Australia's first fixed-site drug checking service opened in Canberra in 2022.
A state's first-of-its-kind standalone clinic where people can test their drugs for dangerous ingredients will save lives.
Victoria's first fixed pill-testing site will open in Fitzroy, one of Melbourne's most popular nightlife areas, near public transport, health care and social services, following a successful trial during the summer festival period.
The service will offer testing for most pills, capsules, powders, crystals, and liquids and be able to detect highly dangerous synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and Nitazenes, which can be mixed with other drugs and cause death.
The site will launch by August and operate Thursday to Saturday, staffed by Youth Support and Advocacy Service, The Loop Australia, and Harm Reduction Victoria, which also runs mobile testing sites.
Medical support, social services, and secondary and confirmatory testing of substances will also be offered.
The service will also act as real-time surveillance, allowing health authorities to detect and rapidly assess new types of synthetic drugs in circulation.
Almost 1400 samples were tested, with MDMA, ketamine and cocaine the main drugs detected and two statewide drug advisories issued.
Two-thirds of service users said it was their first time having a conversation with a health professional about drug harm reduction and more than 30 per cent said they would take a smaller amount.
The service is about saving lives, Mental Health Minister Ingrid Stitt said.
"No drug is safe but with testing and open, health-focused conversations, we are helping Victorians make more informed and safer choices," she said.
Australia's first fixed-site drug checking service opened in Canberra in 2022.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Herald Sun
5 days ago
- Herald Sun
St John Ambulance urge Victorian government not to fall behind other states on defibrillator rollout
Don't miss out on the headlines from News. Followed categories will be added to My News. The state government has been urged to follow South Australia and mandate defibrillators in public buildings. St John Ambulance Victoria, which launched its Defib In Your Street program in Werribee on Friday, said the move could save thousands of lives. 'More than 7500 Victorians suffer a sudden cardiac arrest every year and survival relies on quick access to a defibrillator and training the community in its use,' chief executive Gordon Botwright said. St John has placed more than 90 Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) in Victoria across Reservoir, St Albans and Sunshine, plus trained 12,500 community members in CPR in the past three years. The Defib In Your Street program aims to reduce time to access a defibrillator in a bid to increase survival rates of people suffering Sudden Cardiac Arrest by providing free training and greater access to more public defibrillators. The area of Werribee located in Wyndham City Council is home to more than 28,000 people across a 12.7 sq km area, but St John Ambulance data shows it the only has three publicly-accessible defibrillators available 24-hours a day. 'It's literally a case where every second counts … with every extra minute that a person is in cardiac arrest, their chances of surviving fall by 10 per cent,' Mr Botwright said. 'Since initiating Defib In Your Street in 2022, we have installed more than 90 defibrillators in Melbourne suburbs with a high incidence of sudden cardiac arrest, and we have substantially reduced the time needed to access a defibrillator. 'The state government needs to follow the lead of SA where more than 1000 defibrillators have been installed, so we can work together and improve access to these lifesaving devices for all Victorians. Latrobe University data of the Defib In Your Street pilot program found that in Reservoir the program reduced travel time for residents to their nearest defibrillator by 2.32 minutes (68 per cent), and doubled AED coverage for cardiac arrests. Werribee resident and retired firefighter George Andrews praised the St John program and encouraged local community members to get involved. 'Having had first-hand experience in conducting CPR on a neighbour … I know how vital timing is in improving survival rates, so I didn't think twice about becoming the first person to host a public access defibrillator,' Mr Andrews said. 'The AED units are very easy to operate so if we can improve access to them by increasing the numbers in the suburb, we will have a far greater chance of saving precious lives,' he said. St John plans to make 30 publicly-available defibrillators (PADs) accessible in Werribee to ensure there is one every 400m.
The Age
5 days ago
- The Age
Organ donation: Teddy Forster died before he got a new heart. A simple reform may have helped him
Teddy Forster died last year at age 20 months after waiting for a heart transplant. While Noah's cardiomyopathy is less serious than Teddy's – Noah is not currently on the waiting list for a heart transplant – he was nonetheless transferred from Perth to Melbourne after a series of back-to-back viruses that could have attacked his already fragile heart. Noah may also need a heart transplant one day. Sinead and Alex decided to share their family's story given Australia's heart transplant waiting list is at a five-year-high. The Allan government has still not overhauled how Victorians sign up to the organ donation register, more than a year after a parliamentary inquiry recommended linking registrations to driver's licence renewals. 'You never think the unthinkable will happen to you,' Sinead says. 'You don't want to plan for the worst day of your life. But families need to have those conversations. They need to be prepared so that if it happens, you don't need to think about it.' Loading Australia operates an opt-in system for organ donation, like the United States and Canada, and families are also asked for their consent. Jurisdictions such as Wales, Iceland and the Netherlands have adopted opt-out systems where people have to tell authorities about any religious or cultural objections. Research has shown as many as four out of five Australians support organ and tissue donation, but only one in three are registered on the Australian Organ Donor Register. South Australia leads the nation, with 74 per cent of eligible individuals signed up as organ donors, more than twice the national average. The South Australian government says this is because it was the first state in Australia to allow people to become a registered donor through their driver's licences. Only 23 per cent of Victorians are on the register, according to the recent inquiry, a figure well below the national average. Services Australia data shows that registrations are as low as 10 and 15 per cent in pockets of Melbourne's north and western suburbs. Beechworth, Yackandandah, Chiltern and Rutherglen, all in the state's north-east, have the highest level of registrations, at 42 per cent of the population. Dr Rohit D'Costa, the medical director of DonateLife Victoria, said older people shouldn't assume they wouldn't be suitable candidates for organ donation. 'People rule themselves out of being a donor, saying 'nobody would want my organs', but we've had donors well into their 80s. That liver tissue can last for many years after the donation,' D'Costa says. He says an older donor's kidneys and lungs could function for a decade or more in a recipient, and one organ donor can save as many as seven lives. Loading 'Adult donors can help little children. It's possible to do what's called a split liver, where part of the liver goes to an adult and the smaller lobe goes to a child. One adult can help multiple people with their generosity.' D'Costa hopes Victoria will soon shift to the model where people are prompted to register to be a donor whenever they renew their driver's licences. Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier says she will back such a proposal, which would retain Victoria's opt-in system. 'I don't think enough is being done by government to increase awareness,' Crozier says. An Allan government spokesperson says Labor will respond to the recent parliamentary inquiry later this year. 'We'll have more to say soon,' the spokesperson says. Meanwhile, 105-or-so Australians are waiting for a heart transplant, up from 64 this time last year. Noah Forster isn't one of them. For now. 'He's getting stronger every day,' mum Sinead says, wiping away tears. Start the day with a summary of the day's most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
Herald Sun
6 days ago
- Herald Sun
Palliative Care Victoria alarmed at lack of funding to help terminally ill Victorians
Don't miss out on the headlines from Victoria. Followed categories will be added to My News. Dying Victorians are being forced on to waiting lists for palliative care or being pushed into overcrowded hospitals instead of receiving care at home because of funding shortfalls, experts warn. Kelly Rogerson, chair of Palliative Care Victoria, has sounded the alarm that the state's at-home care system is in crisis following years of underfunding by the Victorian government, with at least an extra $20m needed to restore service levels. She revealed that 79 people die each day in Victoria without access to palliative care, and that terminally ill patients are frequently told to seek treatment in hospitals rather than stay at home due to budget issues. 'It just doesn't make sense,' Ms Rogerson said. 'We've got this massive increase of our ageing population and terminal illness trajectories, but we're a small piece of focus from a Department of Health point of view. 'People are only getting care in the last weeks of their life rather than actually living well, which is what palliative care is all about.' Data from Palliative Care Victoria showed 62 per cent of people who wanted to die at home were actually being admitted to hospital instead. Ms Rogerson added this was resulting in huge 'pressure on hospitals' and called for an urgent funding injection from the Allan government to help struggling services. Her call comes after funding was cut in the 2024-25 budget. This was despite a report in 2022, commissioned by Palliative Care Victoria, which found 75 per cent of service providers don't believe they can meet future demand, with a projected $91m annual shortfall in the state's sector by 2025. In comparison, in NSW the sector was boosted in 2022 with an extra $734m to be injected into the end-of-life care system over five years. Despite warnings of underfunding, a Victorian government spokesperson said: 'Every Victorian deserves access to compassionate, high-quality end-of-life care when and where they need it.' 'We've invested more than $182m to expand access to palliative care across Victoria, including year on year increase.' Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier slammed the state's action on the issue as tone deaf. 'Labor needs to immediately correct the underfunding of essential palliative care services, so that support and dignity can be provided to those patients at the end of their life,' she said. In one case raised with the Herald Sun a mother-of-three dying of cancer was not able to get assistance for help to care for her young children due to funding issues.
