A Greens motion has passed through the Senate this week that places the topics of pill testing and sniffer dogs squarely back in the spotlight.

The motion, which the Greens report passed on Wednesday without objection from Labor or Liberal Senators, “calls on the Government to address the rising rates of harm associated with drug use by implementing and appropriately resourcing evidence-based harm reduction policies.”

The Greens propose that this would involve “working with state and territory governments to cease the use of drug sniffer dogs at festivals and urgently introduce trials of pill testing for the upcoming festivals season.”

While the bill passing the Senate doesn’t have any immediate effect, it does place pressure back on the State Governments to reevaluate their stance on the issue. As reported by the ABC, both the Liberals and Labor rejected the idea earlier in the year.

Other proposed drug-related measures include “greater access to needle and syringe programs across the country with an urgent roll-out of trials inside prisons”, “expanded access to medically supervised injecting facilities across Australia,” and “promoting awareness of the life-saving opioid reversal drug Naloxone, and highlighting its availability over the counter in pharmacies”.

The bill was prefaced by a request that the Senate recognise that “today is the 15th annual International Overdose Awareness Day, commemorating all those who have died or been seriously injured due to drug overdose, and six people lose their lives to preventable overdose in Australia each day,” highlighting the need for improved methods of preventing drug overdoses in Australia.

The Greens described pill testing as one of the “evidence-based harm reduction measures that the government should resource,” along with other initiatives like needle and syringe programs and supervised injecting rooms.

“Six people in Australia die each day due to overdose,” said Greens Leader Dr Richard Di Natale. “It’s devastating for families, it’s entirely preventable, and our country’s politicians need to find the courage to do what they can to prevent further harm.”

Notably, Di Natale is a former drug and alcohol clinician, and has long been an advocate for pill testing.

“I’m pleased the Senate has agreed that the Federal Government should act. Now it’s time for Liberal and Labor governments to back these measures in every state and territory.”

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