Pill testing may seem a good idea on paper, but how would it actually work in Australia?
To help us find out, the good folk over at Unharm are hosting an event at Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre this Friday November 25, which will also act as the campaign launch for the group’s latest: Tests Not Arrests.
The event will feature two speakers who run pill testing services in the UK and Portugal – professor Fiona Measham (The Loop, UK) and Helena Valente (CheckIn, Portugal) – who will ring in on Skype to talk about how their respective services operate.
It will also feature Dr Monica Barratt, who is an academic expert in pill testing and new psychoactive substances, Australia’s OG pill-testing advocate Johnboy Davidson who ran a service in the naughties, and Adriana Buccianti, the courageous face of the campaign for pill testing in Australia.
There will also be a leading pill testing device called Bruker Alpha on display.
Adriana Buccianti tragically lost her son Daniel at a music festival in 2012 after he took a drug that was not what he believed it was. She has since been leading the charge for pill testing in Australia, launching a petition which to-date has over 35,000 signatures. You can sign it here.
The campaign been getting some really positive responses from MPs, many of whom want to understand how such a service would operate. This event is to address that question.
The Test Not Arrests launch goes down on Friday November 25 at Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre. More info and tix here.
