Yours And Owls Becomes First NSW Festival To Introduce Pill Testing

Lydia Jupp
February 19, 2025

Image: yoursandowlsfestival/Instagram

The New South Wales government announced on Wednesday that Yours and Owls Festival will be the first to participate in the state’s new pill testing trial.

The pill testing service will be staffed by peer workers, health workers and analysts who will clearly communicate the limitations of drug checking to festival goers.

The service, which is free and anonymous, allows festival goers to bring a small sample of substances they intend to consume to be analysed by qualified health staff to test for purity, potency and adulterants.听聽

鈥淲e enthusiastically welcome this move by the NSW Government. Pill testing is something we have been fighting for, for some time now,” said festival co-founder .

鈥淲hile Yours and Owls maintains a zero-tolerance policy to illegal drugs, we are realists and see the abstinence-only approach as unhelpful. Pill Testing is not a panacea. However, it is a proven harm minimisation strategy that has been successfully implemented in many countries overseas for the past twenty or so years.”

The Minns government announced that the state would introduce a pill testing trial, with Health Minister Ryan Park saying the move was influenced by the .听

The trial will go for 12 months and will cost a little over $1 million to roll out the service in festival grounds.

Pill testing widely welcomed

The trials won’t have any impact on police efforts in targeting drug suppliers, and pill testing won’t be available to those seeking to supply drugs to others.

鈥淟et me be clear,” said Park. “No level of illicit drug use is safe and pill testing services do not provide a guarantee of safety. There will always be risks involved when consuming these substances.

鈥淗owever, this trial has been designed to provide people with the necessary information to make more informed decisions about drug use, with the goal of reducing drug-related harm and saving lives.”

Although the move was widely welcomed across the community, Greens drug harm reduction spokesperson Cate Faehrmann said the testing was introduced too late.

鈥淲ith festivals like Lost Paradise, Field Day, and Spaced Out in Byron Bay taking place in late December and early January, along with New Years Eve and the holidays, most of the larger summer festivals will have concluded by early February,鈥� she said when the testing was announced.

鈥淭he Health Minister has received proposals by experienced pill testing services who are ready to set up with qualified health professionals within days. They鈥檙e operating in other states so it鈥檚 not that hard to get their services in NSW at the time when they鈥檙e needed the most.”

The Greens are also calling for the end of strip searches and drug detection dogs, citing recommendations from the Coronial Inquest into Drug Deaths at Music Festivals.

Various studies show that LGBTQI+ people take recreational drugs at far higher rates than the remainder of the population.

These higher numbers are reported all around Australia, but also various places around the world, including聽听补苍诲听.

The news of the trials were welcomed by ACON, with CEO Michael Woodhouse saying in December that the group strongly support harm reduction initiatives that put public health first.

鈥淒rug checking has been shown in other jurisdictions to improve access to support, reduce drug-related harm and save lives.

鈥淭his trial demonstrates a forward-thinking and practical response to a complex issue. It is one more component in the effort to reduce drug related harm.鈥�