General News
26 November, 2025
Pill testing at Pitch
THE Victorian Government’s mobile pill testing trial continues this summer, with Moyston’s Pitch festival one of three events to host the service.
At the weekend, Minister for Mental Health Ingrid Stitt announced that pill testing will be available at a mix of single-day and multi-day events over the coming months, the Pitch Festival and Ballarat’s Spilt Milk Festival.
The service is free, confidential and staffed by an experienced team of experts who provide health information to help people make safer, more informed decisions.
The mobile service can test a range of drugs and if a high-risk substance is detected, the service works with organisers to rapidly warn partygoers through social media and event signage.
It follows successful mobile pill testing at five major music festivals last summer, where almost 1,400 samples were tested – with 11 per cent of samples not what people expected their drugs to be.
While the service seeks to save lives, reduce drug harm and improve public health at music festivals, it is also reducing pressure on frontline services and enhancing Victoria’s drug surveillance capabilities by boosting early detection and rapid assessment of hazardous synthetic drugs substances.
Last season, 10 drug notifications were issued across the five events with two escalating to statewide advisories.
“The results from last festival season speak for themselves: pill testing works. It doesn’t encourage young people to use drugs but allows them to see what’s really in their substances and make informed health decisions,” Minister Stitt said.
“With a rise in dangerous synthetic opioids, this service is more important than ever – it offers a sensible health-led approach to reduce drug harms, while also delivering critical drug surveillance information.”
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