The ACT government could be a step closer to allowing pill-testing at music festivals as it rounds up a working group to consider a controversial proposal.
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The move has the territory leading Australia in exploring the idea, which has drawn criticism from politicians who say it condones illicit drug use.
It also marks a significant position shift for the ACT government, which until recently had not ruled out considering the practice in the future but had revealed no formal plans to do so.
While some drug reform activists praised the decision, others slammed it for down-playing months of work already done and demanded details of the roundtable.
ACT health minister Meegan Fitzharris said the group would be led by ACT Health and informed by ACT Policing, the Justice and Community Safety Directorate and community stakeholders. She said the government had not made a deadline for a decision, but would not be "rushed" to decide by the Spilt Milk music festival in December.
"There are a range of regulatory, legislative and political issues that the government will take the time to consider, given this is the first time in Australia that this would take place," she said.
"I think that if there is a pill testing trial at a festival there would also need to be other information available to people attending the festival, separate from the trial, about the harms associated with taking illicit drugs."
The ACT government recently rejected a proposal by Harm Reduction Australia for a drug-checking trial at Canberra's Groovin The Moo festival next weekend. A government spokesman said the proposal still needed significant work.
But ACT Greens Leader Shane Rattenbury, who petitioned the government to allow drug-testing at Groovin The Moo, questioned the need for a roundtable given Harm Reduction Australia's "extensive proposal" put to them months ago.
"Reviewing the basic principles of pill testing or evidence for harm minimisation policy would be an unproductive distraction from the real task of implementing a trial this year," Mr Rattenbury said.
While Ms Fitzharris claimed the government only received the written proposal in February, leading drug reform advocate Dr David Caldicott - who worked on the proposal - said the government had been involved in detailed discussions with all stakeholders for eight months.
"We were under the impression that that this was all already happening, so for the scientists and doctors this will represent considerable repetition," Dr Caldicott said.
"But if this is what it takes to get the politicians over the line then we have to wait and hope no-one dies in the interim."
The government is setting up the working group in response to recommendations by the ACT's peak drug body, the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Association ACT. The body released a paper highlighting the success of drug-checking programs in several countries, where festival-goers test their drugs for harmful chemicals that could cause overdoses. One study found two thirds of people said they would not take the drug after it returned a "bad result".
ATODA ACT chief executive Carrie Fowlie said a pill-testing trial should form part of an early warning system that gives long-term drug use trends to treatment services and policy makers.
The Canberra Liberals were opposed to allowing a similar program in the ACT, stating it would let criminals certify their illegal drugs.
Harm Reduction Australia president Gino Vumbaca was confident the ACT government would approve of the trial after assessing the evidence it was based on.
ACT Policing said it had been in talks with the ACT government about harm-minimisation, and that safety of patrons was its main priority at Canberra music festivals. Meanwhile the University of Canberra - the Groovin The Moo venue - said it was open to conversations about pill-testing at festivals held at the university, provided relevant authorities and stakeholders agreed.
