Second Festival In NSW To Participate In Pill Testing

New South Wales’ pill testing trial is set to continue at music festival Midnight Mafia in May.

The iconic indoor festival at Sydney Showground is the second festival to take part in the trial, following services at Yours and Owls in March.

Scheduled for May 3, Midnight Mafia is expected to draw crowds of more than 20,000.

The free and anonymous service 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.  

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

Staff can also provide patrons with referrals to health and welfare services at the event, and in the community.

“This trial is about helping festival goers make more informed decisions about drug use with the goal of reducing harm and saving lives,” said Health Minister Ryan Park.

“As we saw at the first trial site at the Yours and Owls festival, collaboration between all stakeholders is critical to ensuring the trial runs effectively.

“The NSW Government looks forward to listening to the evidence and applying the lessons learned as this drug checking trial progresses.”

Member for Sydney Alex Greenwich, who has been a big advocate for harm reduction practices like pill testing, commended the NSW government on the evidence-based move.

“Pill testing is all about keeping people safe, informed, and can ultimately safe lives.”

First trial “really positive”

The NSW government announced their intent to begin pill testing trials in December 2024, with the initial service at Yours and Owls yielding “really positive” results.

Of the nearly 30,000 festival attendees, 103 individuals visited the service, with 80 drug samples being tested. Ten per cent of the drugs tested were either not what people thought they’d bought, or generated inconclusive results. The three most common drugs detected were MDMA, ketamine, and cocaine.

“If it’s helped one person, then to be honest it’s probably a success from my perspective,” Park said at the time.

Trials are expected to take place over 12 months, and will cost a little over $1 million to roll out the service in festival grounds.

Park said that the move was influenced by the NSW Drug Summit held in early December, with the summit’s co-chairs providing interim advice to the government before submitting their final report.