People who use party drugs say it gives them energy to dance and socialise, reduces their inhibitions and enhances their feelings of connection to others.
Articles on Pill testing
Displaying 21 - 32 of 32 articles
Most people assume drugs are illegal because they are dangerous, but the reasons aren’t related to their relative risk or harm.
Illicit drugs can be dangerous. Read this before you use so you know what to look out for.
Every summer we hear of more deaths from drugs at festivals. But MDMA was originally a medicine, so how can it kill users?
Monkey dust is in the “bath salts” family. Here’s what that means.
With several music festival patrons dying this year the pill testing debate is in full swing. Yet people can already purchase legally available test kits. Do they work?
There are arguments against pill testing. But none are as compelling or evidence-based as the arguments for it.
Victorian Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said conducting on-site drug tests at public events “safely and quickly is not really a practical option”. But the technology is available.
In the absence of any more sophisticated options, drug consumers are resorting to drug testing kits they can access themselves.
Not only are our drug policies not working, we’re falling behind the rest of the world and what evidence says is best to ensure we have fewer deaths from illicit drugs.
Testing drugs at music festivals not only means we can assess whether they contain anything unexpected, but it’s an opportunity to try to change the behaviour of users.
The death of 19-year-old Georgina Bartter at a music festival on the weekend from a suspected ecstasy overdose could possibly have been avoided with a simple harm-minimisation intervention. Pill testing…
Top contributors
-
Adjunct Professor at the National Drug Research Institute (Melbourne based), Curtin University
-
Senior lecturer, Australian National University
-
Associate Professor, National Drug Research Institute / enAble Institute, Curtin University
-
Lecturer, RMIT University
-
Associate Professor in Criminology and Drug Policy, Centre for Crime Policy and Research, Flinders University
-
Senior Lecturer of Addiction, Edith Cowan University
-
Lecturer in Paramedic Science , CQUniversity Australia
-
Professor & Specialist in Drug Policy, UNSW
-
NHMRC Senior Research Fellow, Burnet Institute
-
Senior lecturer, UNSW
-
Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Technology Sydney
-
Professor and Deputy Director, Monash Addiction Research Centre, Monash University
-
Research Fellow, National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University; UNSW
-
Professor, Director of Research and Statistical Support Service and Program Leader for Substance Use and Mental Health, Centre for Health Services Research, The University of Queensland
-
Natalie Gately is a Friend of The Conversation.
Associate Professor, Edith Cowan University