Let’s get real about pills. The war on drugs has failed and, every year, young Australians lose their lives after taking dangerous pills. The reality is that people will always choose to use drugs - in fact, almost half of all adults have used pills or party drugs.
The “tough on drugs” approach of Labor and Liberal governments causes enormous harm and wastes a massive amount of emergency service resources.
Unlike the major parties, we see drug use as a health issue not a criminal issue, and that community based pill testing will save lives. We’ve seen this overseas and even at trials here in Australia, where the evidence shows that when people get better information about the potentially harmful ingredients in a pill, they’re far more likely to bin it.
Under our plan, pill testing sites will be established all over the country where people can have their drugs tested for free, better understand the contents of their pills and even have one-on-one consultation with trained counsellors. An early warning system will complement testing sites, so that as many people as possible are alerted to potentially dangerous pills.
Join our campaign and we’ll keep you updated on our progress, as we take our campaign to universities, neighbourhoods and Parliament House.