Every year for the last few years there have been new cases of deaths at music festivals and other events due to dodgy/dangerous pills - typically involving university students or university-aged young people like you or I. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the failed ‘War on Drugs’ and the Prohibitionist approach to drug policy maintained by governments across the country - including the Andrews Labor Government here in Victoria - have contributed to these deaths.

Pill-testing is one of the major policy battlegrounds on which the modern war on drugs is being fought. Year on year, Victorians are put in harm’s way due to misinformation, the threat of police and, the many toxic adulterants that are cut into illegal drugs.

Despite the growing chorus of advocates for pill-testing and pill-testing trials NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews have both ruled out the adoption of any such measures. Although their language is different, they both express concern about ‘giving a green light to drug use’.
Drug use is already happening and people will continue to use drugs regardless of what laws or policing are in place. This problem is only getting bigger as the number of people using drugs in Australia has been growing exponentially. In 2018, Australians spent $9.3bn on cocaine, meth, MDMA and heroin, with cocaine and meth consumption rising from previous years.

In reality, there is no reliable evidence that the introduction of pill-testing services would ‘give a green light to drug use’ or result in increased drug consumption. What pill-testing would do, however, is allow people to manage and reduce the potential harms associated with drug use and prevent the kinds of injuries and fatalities that we’ve seen over the past few years.

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In 2019, the NSW Coroner handed down a report recommending pill-testing trials be established in that state at music festivals over the summer. In the report Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame stated that “drug-checking is simply an evidence-based harm-reduction strategy that should be trialled as soon as possible in NSW.” The same can be said for Victoria.

Laws and policies designed to reduce the harms associated with potentially-harmful activities are commonplace in society - mandatory wearing of seatbelts on the road, labelling on alcoholic beverages and plain-packaging on cigarettes are all harm-reduction strategies that easily come to mind. Why should governments neglect to provide similar protections to the many Australians who use drugs? Everyone deserves to be safe. The inaction of the Victorian government on this issue, and the stigma surrounding drug-use that is only amplified by the ‘war on drugs’ approach to drug policy - is killing us.

What can we do to help?
Labor for Drug Law Reform (LFDLR) is an internal Labor lobby group pushing for much-needed reforms in Victorian and national drug and alcohol policy. We seek to bring relevant parties both internal and external to the Labor Party together to achieve meaningful policy change. All policies we support fit under a harm-reduction model.

LFDLR believe that urgent action must be taken to implement harm-reduction policies in order to prevent further loss of life, injury and unnecessary trauma. We support the ‘front-of house’ pill testing model, because it connects users to health professionals and allows them pathways into further education or treatment.

Labor for Drug Law Reform is connecting these stories of incarceration, tragedy and loss as a result of the current inadequate drug policies to the overwhelming evidence in favour of harm-reduction services and policies like pill testing. Our current pill testing campaign involves passing motions at local Labor branches and working with concerned communities, demographics & unions to break down the misinformation at the heart of the pill-testing debate.

We would encourage anyone reading this who is interested in Labor politics, human rights or progressive policy change to consider getting involved in our organisation.

Check us out on Facebook or get in touch at

laborfordruglawreform@gmail.com