The NSW Government will introduce a 12-month trial drug checking program at selected music festivals from early 2025.
Yours and Owls Festival on 1 and 2 March will be the first music festival to participate in the trial.
The drug checking services will allow people attending selected music festivals to test small samples of substances intended for personal use. Qualified health staff will provide a rapid evaluation of the main components of the substance and an indication of potency where possible.
The purpose of drug checking services at festivals is to reduce risks and harms associated with illicit drug use.
Trained peers and health workers will provide people with information along with a harm reduction advice. This information can help people make informed decisions and minimise drug related harms and deaths.
The trial will provide drug checking services for up to 12 music festivals and events in NSW for 12 months starting in early 2025.
NSW Health is consulting with the music festival industry and harm reduction organisations when selecting which events to include in the trial.
The trial will be independently evaluated to inform future program development.
The service will be staffed by a combination of trained peer workers and qualified health staff, including analytical scientists and clinicians.
Yes. The service will be free for people attending festivals included in this trial.
The program is funded by NSW Health.
When a person enters a festival drug checking area, they will speak to a trained harm reduction worker who will explain the process.
They will be required to sign a waiver noting the limitations of testing and that no level of illicit drug consumption is safe.
The person then provides a small sample of the substance to be tested, and an analytical scientist tests the sample.
The sample is tested, and after a short time the person has a conversation with the peer worker, and health worker if needed, to discuss the test results, potential dangers and how to reduce their risk and appropriate harm reduction and health services they can access.
Amnesty bins will be available for safe disposal of drugs within the drug checking service.
No. Staff at drug checking services will not tell people if it is safe to use a drug. Staff can offer tailored and general information on how to reduce harms from these drugs.
The trial will use a mix of technologies to test for the main components of the substance and an indication of potency (strength) where possible.
Drug checking services do not provide a guarantee of safety.
The combination of equipment that will be used in the trial can identify a wide range of drugs including those commonly seen at music festivals. A limitation of on-site testing capability is that low levels of drugs in a sample may be difficult to detect. So if a sample contains low level of fentanyl or nitazenes it may not show up in the analysis.
If the main components of a substance cannot be identified using the equipment available on-site, the person will be asked if they will surrender the sample for confirmatory testing.
Confirmatory testing will be conducted by NSW Health Pathology Forensic & Analytical Science Service.
Regardless of the result of the drug testing, people will be provided with harm reduction advice.
People will be asked a set of questions by the peer staff when they use the service. Information about people’s drug use, and information about the drug sample/s they provide for testing, will not be linked to their personal identity.
Analytical results from the drug checking services will be integrated into NSW's existing rapid drug surveillance, early warning and response system. This work can alert the community when there is a public health risk related to substances circulating in the community.
Harm reduction peer workers will be available to provide information and harm reduction advice to help people make informed decisions, and can support people to access harm reduction and health services they may need.
Amnesty bins will be available for safe disposal of drugs within the drug checking service.
It is not illegal to use the drug checking services that are part of this trial.
NSW Health and NSW Police are working together to ensure that patrons can access the drug checking service without concern.
The trial will operate alongside other harm reduction and medical services at the selected festivals.
