Push for release of Queensland drug testing report

The college is calling for an independent University of Queensland evaluation of the state’s drug-testing sites to be made public by the State Government.
 
The Government has reportedly declined to confirm whether it will release the report, which was commissioned by the former Labor Government and cost taxpayers $453,286.
 
Earlier this year, two drug-testing sites were shut down by the State Government, with multiple samples of highly potent synthetic opioids nitazenes detected a few days before one pill-testing site was closed.
 
When the drug-testing service CheQpoint was cut in April, it prompted calls from the RACGP for the Government to reconsider funding the lifesaving and ‘vital’ service.
 
Queensland became the first state to offer permanent pill testing just over a year ago. But the State Government made the decision to axe the 12-month funded CheQpoint pilot before the independent evaluation was due at the end of May.
 
‘Let this evaluation see the light of day,’ RACGP Queensland Chair, Dr Cathryn Hester said.
 
‘We have evidence from other jurisdictions around the world that drug testing is a sensible harm-reduction measure.
 
‘If the Government was confident its decision to close the drug-testing sites was based on the best available evidence, this evaluation would be made public.’  
 
Nitazenes, stronger than fentanyl and many times more potent than heroin, have recently been detected in counterfeit pain-relief medication across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory.
 
Wastewater analyses detected the deadly synthetic opioids, raising alarm bells among RACGP harm-reduction advocates, who say measures such as carrying naloxone and establishing permanent drug-testing sites across all jurisdictions will save lives.
 
A study of Victoria’s first trial of a pill-testing service launched a year ago found that, from out of more than 700 attendees who visited the testing site at the Beyond the Valley New Year’s Eve festival, almost 40% said they would use a lower dose of their drugs after speaking to health professionals. More than 600 drug samples were tested at the event.
 
Meanwhile, Canberra has run fixed drug-testing sites since 2022, and New South Wales launched a 12-month trial earlier this year, following proposed reforms coming out of a Drug Summit in the state a few months earlier. NSW Health has this week announced a third music festival will participate in the state’s trial.
 
Results from the 2022–23 National Drug Strategy Household Survey reveal that 64% of Australians support drug checking, compared to 57% in 2019.
 
Dr Hester is disappointed that other Australian jurisdictions are ‘heading in the right direction at a time when Queensland is taking backward steps’.
 
‘The question must be asked as to why Queensland is heading in the opposite direction,’ she said.
 
‘Those sites have now shut their doors for good, and people using illicit drugs don’t have an avenue to turn to in order to find out what they’re taking.
 
‘The situation is particularly grim in Queensland, because unlike other states and territories, we don’t have an overdose monitoring system or a public drug alert network.
 
‘So, we call on the Government to reverse course, reveal this evaluation, and reassess the decision to close the drug testing sites.’ 
 
The ABC reported that a spokesperson for the state’s Health Minister confirmed the evaluation ‘will be considered by cabinet’, with Premier David Crisafulli stating earlier this week that he was yet to see the report, but emphasised that his Government’s policy position ‘won’t change’.
 
In the meantime, the RACGP stands firm on advocating for harm-reduction measures and health-based approaches to drug use, and facilitating informed decision-making. Publicly releasing the Queensland evaluation report would be a step towards supporting this, the college says, backing calls from other healthcare professionals that it would ‘show the benefits of drug testing’ to the community.
 
‘Drug testing saves lives, and the public deserve to know what the evaluation found,’ Dr Marguerite Tracy, Deputy Chair of RACGP Specific Interests Addiction Medicine, and member of the RACGP Expert Committee – Quality Care, said. 
 
‘The timing couldn’t be worse given that numerous states and territories, including Queensland, are detecting the new synthetic opioid nitazene.
 
‘Drug testing is not about condoning illicit drug use … However, we must also adopt an evidence-based, health-first approach and view drug-testing sites like the now closed CheQpoint as a sensible harm-reduction measure. 
 
‘My message to the Queensland Government is straightforward – overdose deaths don’t happen to “other people”.
 
‘We must always strive to see illicit drug use through a health lens, it could be your own child, a friend, family member or colleague. We must always remember that every life matters.’ 
 
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