Party drug testing kits to be handed out at top Australian university

A student union at Australia's top university will start handing out drug-testing kits to ensure students' safety when using party drugs, according to local sources.

From October, students at the University of Melbourne will become the first in Australia able to test the potency and content of the drugs they are taking to reduce overdoses and adverse reactions to toxic substances.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), an international organization that advocates for harm-reduction rather than drug prohibition, led the international rollout of the drug-kit plan.

Nick Kent, President of the SSDP's University of Melbourne branch, said that illicit drugs were part of university culture and that the emphasis should be on providing a safe environment for students to use the drugs.

"Prohibition has created a situation where people are taking substances and they have no idea what is in them," Kent told Fairfax Media on Wednesday.

The kits will contain three types of drug tests, all of which involve fluids that change color when they come into contact with drugs.

One test will identify active compounds, another the purity of MDMA, or ecstasy, and the last detects PMA, a party drug known as "Dr. Death" which has been linked to deaths all over the world.

Bill O'Loughlin, a drug harm reduction consultant, said students were aware of drug-testing facilities available in other countries and wanted similar facilities in Australia.

"They're still going to take drugs; it's part of the culture now," O'Loughlin said.

O'Loughlin said students should still be cautious with drugs even if they had been tested.

"They should tell their friends what they're doing and not do it in secret," he said.

The legality of pill testing has come under question with a spokesperson for Victoria Police said that people handling illicit substances as a part of pill-testing could be prosecuted.

The Victorian Greens released a report in August calling for the introduction of pill testing by experts at events such as music festivals. Endit