The purity of the drugs has been tested at Australia’s first pill and drug testing clinic in Canberra.
Key Points:
- The clinic has tested 58 drug samples in the past month
- A sample believed to be methamphetamine was actually sugar
- Eighteen drugs were discarded immediately after the owners learned their true contents
The ACT government launched the six-month pilot program last month to try to minimize drug-related harm.
Stephanie Stephens, acting general manager of health services at ACT Directions, said last month had shown people would discard medicines that contained unexpected or dangerous substances.
“Since CanTEST opened its doors, our staff have delivered 70 brief health and alcohol and other drug interventions to people who attended the service,” he said.
“This is significant given how new the service is and that it is only open for three hours every Thursday and Friday.”
Ms Stephens said CanTEST collected 58 drug samples, 18 of which were discarded after the owners were made aware of their contents.
“It shows us that people are actively seeking information from a trusted, non-judgmental source to reduce their health risks,” he said.
What did the clinic find in the drug samples?
Five samples of what was expected to be cocaine were tested and only three detected the actual drug.
The overall purity levels of the cocaine were less than 27%.
A sample of cocaine was found to contain dimethylsulfone, a drug used to relieve pain and as an anti-inflammatory.
The most common substance to try was MDMA. (ABC News: Greg Nelson)
The most collected sample during the first month of the clinic was methylenedioxymethamphetamine, better known as MDMA or ecstasy.
CanTEST examined 19 samples suspected of being the drug, and 13 of them detected MDMA.
The purity of the drug varied according to its consumption methods: three out of four pressed pills tested contained between 9 and 21% purity, while four out of seven capsules tested contained between 23 and 64%
Healthcare workers inspect the substances in CanTEST and provide information about what the sample contains. (ABC News: Greg Nelson)
All six samples of heroin collected tested positive with purity recorded from 31 to 63%.
Three of the four samples expected to be methamphetamine showed traces of the drug. The sample of crystal methamphetamine that did not register any methamphetamine was identified as sugar.
Fentanyl, a powerful and addictive opioid, was not detected in any of the samples taken in CanTEST.
Service to grow
Ms. Richards hoped CanTEST would help users of the free service make informed decisions once they realized what was actually in their drug.
“Drug enforcement is also creating new opportunities to have meaningful health and safety discussions with people who intend to use drugs,” he said.
“We expect awareness of the service to continue to grow and more Canberrans to visit us in the coming months for drug testing and access to expert health advice.”
CanTEST operates from the City Community Health Center at 1 Moore Street in the Canberra CBD on Thursdays from 10am to 1pm and Fridays from 6pm to 9pm.