The NSW Government will introduce a 12-month trial drug checking program at music festivals from early 2025.
The drug checking services will allow people attending music festivals to test small samples of substances intended for personal use for purity, potency, and adulterants.
The purpose of drug checking services at festivals is to reduce risks and harms associated with illicit drug use.
Qualified health staff 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 will consult 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.
Peer workers, clinicians, nurses, and analytical chemists will provide the drug checking service.
Yes. The service will be free for people attending festivals included in this trial.
The program will be funded by NSW Health.
When a person enters a festival drug checking area, they will speak to a trained harm reduction health 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 chemist tests the sample.
The sample is tested, and after a short time the person has a private conversation to discuss the test results, potential dangers and how to reduce their risk and appropriate harm reduction and health services they can access.
People can safely dispose of drugs using amnesty bins within the checking service.
No. Staff at drug checking services cannot tell people if it is safe to take the 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 purity (dose/strength), adulterants (substances added to or mixed with drugs) and a wide range of substances.
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 a substance can't be confidently identified on-site, the person will be asked if they will surrender the sample for confirmatory testing.
Follow up testing will be conducted by NSW Health Pathology Forensic & Analytical Science Service to try and confirm the substance.
Regardless of the result people will be provided with harm reduction advice.
People will not be required to give personal information to access the service.
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 will work 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 participating festivals.
