Original article posted on 23 Sept 2025 by Jo Roberts on GP News

Queensland Government bans pill testing

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Two pill-testing facilities in Queensland will remain closed, with the Government passing legislation last week to ban pill testing in the state.

In April, Queensland’s LNP state government closed two fixed-site CheQpoint pill-testing facilities a year after their launch by the state’s then-Labor Government.

The closures came despite an international study led by the University of Queensland that in March reported the global spread of the deadly synthetic opioid nitazene, including its detection in Australian wastewater for the first time.

The report prompted the RACGP to issue a statement in support of drug-testing services, and urge Queensland to re-open its testing sites.

Dr Marguerite Tracy, an RACGP spokesperson on alcohol and other drugs, advocated for a health-based approach to substance use rather than a ‘war on drugs’.

‘Drug-testing sites like CheQpoint are a sensible harm reduction measure,’ she previously said.

‘This is not about condoning illegal drug use, it’s about helping people who are taking illicit drugs make an informed decision.’

A CheQpoint site in Brisbane had been due to re-open on 5 September.

Last week’s vote to ban pill testing coincided with the government’s release of a University of Queensland report into drug checking.

Submitted to Queensland Health in June, the report found the drug-checking services provided ‘valuable harm reduction’, with results showing only 57% of samples presented contained ‘only the expected substances’.

‘Significant numbers of samples also contained unexpected psychoactive substances, creating additional risks to consumers,’ said the researchers.

In follow-up surveys and interviews with people who submitted samples for checking, researchers found many of them changed their drug-taking behaviour, with two out of five reporting not using the tested sample, one in five using less of the tested sample, and one in 10 disposing of at least one tested sample.

‘Clients in both the follow-up survey and interviews also reported reductions in polysubstance use, less frequent use, and increased knowledge of different aspects of their substance use,’ said the researchers.

The report also included considerations for future service delivery such as more resourcing to enable greater scope of service, expanded fixed-site services as well as mobile services in regional areas.

In June, the RACGP called for the release of the taxpayer-funded report, after the Queensland Government declined to reveal when it would release it.

Drug testing remains a contentious issue, despite key medical organisations including the RACGP and AMA Queensland advocating for it.

Drug-checking services were first trialled in Australia in the ACT, at Canberra’s 2018 and 2019 Groovin’ the Moo music festivals.

Since then, drug-testing approaches have varied across each Australian state and territory.

In July 2022 the ACT became the first state or territory to open a fixed-site drug-checking service, CanTEST in Canberra. The free service is currently funded to run until June 2027.

In March 2024, Queensland’s then-Labor Government announced it would become the first state to offer permanent pill testing, opening its first CheQpoint facility the following month in Brisbane in partnership with health networks including not-for-profit group The Loop Australia.

In December 2024, the Victorian Government rolled out mobile pill-testing services at music festivals, while in August 2025 it opened the free fixed-site Victorian Pill Testing Service in Melbourne’s inner-north in partnership with groups including The Loop.

In March 2025, a 12-month trial of mobile drug checking at festivals began in NSW after it was recommended at the state’s 2024 Drug Summit and a 2019 coroner’s report.

Earlier this month, the RACGP called for pill testing to be expanded to Tasmania and South Australia.

Original link: https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/queensland-government-bans-pill-testing