Rachael Brown reported this story on Tuesday, February 16, 2016 12:51:00

ELEANOR HALL: The drug user lobby group Harm Reduction Victoria is calling on the State Government to help reduce deaths at music festivals by funding the testing of pills.



A Four Corners investigation has revealed that seven young Australians, who are believed to have taken ecstasy, died in the last year, as Rachael Brown reports.



("Sugar" by Robin Schulz plays)



RACHAEL BROWN: Australians are the biggest users of the party drug ecstasy in the world.



Harm Reduction Victoria wants to see pill testing machines introduced at dance parties and festivals to give users more information about what they're about to swallow.



BILL O'LOUGHLIN: The machines are very similar to those used already by police in customs, they're quite small, they're about $50,000 each.



They would just need a scientific person to be able to monitor the testing process.



RACHAEL BROWN: The organisation's president, Bill O'Loughlin, says the testing could be easily incorporated into its existing DanceWize program, a peer education model to reduce drug and alcohol related deaths at dance parties.



He says at the moment, the program's mentors are hamstrung.



BILL O'LOUGHLIN: People that go to events often come up to us for the first time and say oh, gosh, can I talk about drugs with you, and if we could do pill testing on the spot, at the moment we have to rely on reports from something that we've learnt from another event or from some sort of online information thing.



We can't do a diagnosis on the spot.



RACHAEL BROWN: The Victorian AIDS Council is echoing the call, saying it's a big issue for LGBTI communities.



The council's CEO is Simon Ruth.



SIMON RUTH: The gay and lesbian community in particular have always led the way in trying new drugs and new drugs often hit our community before they hit other parts of the community.



We saw GHB first, we saw MDMA first, so things like pill testing are very important for our community.



RACHAEL BROWN: Mr Ruth also criticises the use of sniffer dogs to detect drugs at events.



SIMON RUTH: Kids get scared, they take everything that they've got on them and that leads to overdoses and disasters and you know, the majority of the time sniffer dogs only pick up drug users, they don't pick up people who are dealing drugs, they don't pick up any of the big players.



RACHAEL BROWN: But more radical approaches to this scourge will be a bitter pill to swallow for the country's law enforcement.



The New South Wales Police Minister, for example, says pill testing is tantamount to using tax payer dollars to support a drug dealer's enterprise.



Victoria's Minister for Mental Health, Martin Foley, says Victoria doesn't have any plans to start pill testing.



MARTIN FOLEY: But what we are doing through the Parliament of Victoria, inquiring into laws about the governance of illicit and synthetic drugs, and prescription medicine more generally, and we await the terms of that report when it lands.



RACHAEL BROWN: And when's that expected?



MARTIN FOLEY: That will begin its hearings later this year and report next year.



RACHAEL BROWN: So by the time that report drops, if figures are anything to go by from last year, another seven people could be dead by then.



Are there more proactive measures underway?



MARTIN FOLEY: There's a number of measures that the Victorian Government currently funds through the DanceWize programs, through Harm Reduction Victoria - whether it's through education, spaces for people to chill out, forums in which safe drug use and passing out health resource information can all be discussed.



RACHAEL BROWN: The AIDS Council's Simon Ruth says the argument pill testing funds drug dealers doesn't wash. He says it's about saving lives.



SIMON RUTH: Needle exchanges don't encourage drug use, they save lives. This isn't about assisting drug users in their business.



In fact if anything, it should probably challenge drug users business because it would turn people away from people who are delivering bad products.



ELEANOR HALL: That's Simon Ruth from the Victorian AIDS council speaking to Rachael Brown.