5 days ago
Queensland government may not release taxpayer-funded drug testing review after axing service
The Queensland government is refusing to say if it will publicly release an independent taxpayer-funded evaluation of the state's now-axed drug checking sites.
The former Labor administration commissioned the University of Queensland (UQ) to assess the services, including whether they reduced harm and contributed to early warnings about the circulation of dangerous illicit substances.
Documents show the evaluation, which was due to be handed to the government late last week, cost taxpayers $453,286.
Drug checking services allow individuals to submit small samples of substances, meant for personal use, for testing by health professionals.
In April this year the CheQpoint testing sites in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast closed their doors after the LNP opted not to provide ongoing government funding.
Mobile drug checking at future schoolies celebrations on the Gold Coast has also been scrapped.
Despite other states recently starting drug checking services, the Queensland premier and health minister have repeatedly said they do not support the measure.
Last week a spokesperson for health minister Tim Nicholls said the UQ evaluation report "will be considered by Cabinet", which could mean it is kept confidential.
When asked yesterday if the report would be released, Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said he had not seen it and the government's views on pill testing "haven't changed".
"I should have a read of it for sure, but I make the point that our policy position won't change," Mr Crisafulli said.
The Loop Australia is a not-for-profit group of chemists and health workers involved in delivering the services.
Its chief executive Cameron Francis called on the government to release the report, and said a similar evaluation of Canberra's drug checking service was made public.
He said the report would "show the community" the benefits of drug testing.
"I know what some of the data in the report would contain, because it is the data that our service has provided to the evaluators," he said.
"We know that around one in four people that come through the service will use less drugs after talking to one of our staff members, we know that we refer large numbers of people into ongoing support or treatment."
Queensland Opposition Leader Steven Miles said Mr Crisafulli should listen to the health experts who say pill testing saves lives.
"They're calling for this report to be released," Mr Miles said.
"But he won't listen because he's caved into the far-right ideologies of his party — now Queenslanders are paying the price."
Queensland's pill testing closures came as deadly synthetic opioids called nitazines continued to circulate in Australia causing overdoses and deaths.
Mr Francis said evidence showed testing improved public safety.
"Without drug checking we've got no way of warning the community about the dangerous drugs that are circulating until people have either overdosed, ended up in hospital or passed away," he said.
Australia's first fixed-site drug checking service opened in Canberra in mid-2022.
Victoria started pill testing at music festivals late last year and plans to open a clinic in mid-2025.
New South Wales has also kicked off a 12-month drug checking trial at some music festivals.
Medical groups and harm minimisation experts have slammed the Queensland government's closure of drug checking services.
In April, Queensland Chair of the Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP), Dr Cathryn Hester, said the state did not have overdose monitoring or early warning systems.
"I fear that once these drug testing services end, we will see more overdoses because the people taking them, including young people with their whole lives ahead of them, simply don't know what they're ingesting," Dr Hester said.
