WATCH: Dr Jody Moller from the University of Wollongong's School of Science explains how pill testing will work at music festivals. Video by Adam McLean
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00:00I am Dr. Jodi Moller from the School of Science at the University of Wollongong.
00:04So pill testing enables an individual to bring a sample of an illicit drug to a
00:11testing facility to find out what the components are in that drug. So there's
00:16two main things that we're looking for. The first is any other substances that
00:21might happen to be in there, particularly ones that might be more dangerous, so we
00:25call those adulterates or contaminants in the sample. And the second thing that
00:29they're looking for is what the dose of that drug is, to see that if an
00:32individual was to take it, whether that would cause an unusual amount of harm or
00:37not. So the critically important part of any pill testing setup is that
00:41the person that's doing the testing needs to have a conversation with either
00:45a drug and alcohol counsellor or a healthcare professional in order to get
00:49their results. So they have a conversation about ways in which they
00:53can minimise harm, that it will include things like not taking the substance at
00:57all, or if they decide that they would like to take the substance even after
01:01they know what's in it, ways in which they can do that to reduce harm. Might be
01:05taking less of the drug over a longer period of time, it might be making sure
01:09that they stay hydrated.