{"id":198038,"date":"2025-09-03T23:14:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T23:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/198038\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T23:14:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T23:14:14","slug":"brisbane-pill-testing-clinics-reopening-delayed-amid-safety-and-privacy-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/198038\/","title":{"rendered":"Brisbane pill testing clinic’s reopening delayed amid ‘safety and privacy’ concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

A drug checking service in Brisbane has been forced to delay its planned reopening after the Queensland government warned it would do “whatever is necessary” to stop it.<\/p>\n

Last Friday, The Loop Australia announced it had secured private funding to open the Bowen Hill CheQpoint clinic<\/a> for four hours a week.<\/p>\n

The free and confidential service allows people to submit small amounts of illicit and other drugs intended for personal use to health professionals for testing.<\/p>\n

Warnings can also be sent out if the clinic detects deadly substances.<\/p>\n

\"Drug<\/p>\n

Pill testing services operate in other jurisdictions in Australia, but the LNP government doesn’t support it. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n

The clinic had previously been publicly funded, but the LNP government axed that, and a second service on the Gold Coast in April.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the state government warned it would “legislate or regulate” against private providers<\/a> of such services.<\/p>\n

Operators said those threats created an environment where they could not “guarantee the safety and privacy” of the service’s users.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prior to announcing its reopening, The Loop said they had secured a valid permit from Queensland Health and had the support of the Queensland Police Service (QPS) “based on previous successful operations”.<\/p>\n

Previous agreements with police had meant users of harm reduction service weren’t targeted<\/a>, and the police on Saturday said drug checking services didn’t impact normal policing activity.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The government axed funding for the drug checking services in April. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Requests for meetings with govt declined<\/p>\n

In a statement on Wednesday evening, the Loop said it had not received any direct communication from the government in relation to the threatened closure.<\/p>\n

“Multiple meeting requests by The Loop Australia to government ministers and bureaucrats have been declined,” they said.<\/p>\n

“The Loop Australia remains committed to working collaboratively with government and health authorities to ensure services can resume safely and effectively.”<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Cameron Francis, CEO of The Loop Australia, had announced the reopening of Brisbane\u2019s pill checking service last week. (ABC News: Janelle Miles)<\/p>\n

The Loop Australia chief executive Cameron Francis said in a statement the “evidence-based” service had the support of the “majority” of Queenslanders.<\/p>\n

“While politicians debate, real people face real risks from untested substances,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

he said.<\/p>\n

“Every day of delay could mean the difference between life and death for someone in our community.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Dr Nick Yim is the president of the AMA Queensland, which supports the drug checking service. (ABC Wide Bay: Lucy Loram)<\/p>\n

The reopening of the pill testing clinic is supported by the Australian Medical Association (AMA).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Queensland president Dr Nick Yim said drug checking both prevented harm and kept people out of emergency departments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no viable alternative solution to pill testing as an early-warning system to alert our community to the circulation of harmful substances,” he said.<\/p>\n

Pill testing services are in operation in other states around Australia, but the Queensland government has repeatedly said it does not support the policy.<\/p>\n

‘Pills kill Queenslanders’\"a<\/p>\n

Jarrod Bleijie says “pills kill Queenslanders”. (ABC News: Sarah Richards)<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Acting Premier Jarrod Bleijjie had said a strong approach to drugs was needed.<\/p>\n

“Pills kill Queenslanders, the government has a zero tolerance approach on illicit drugs,” he said.<\/p>\n

“You cannot have a state-sanctioned policy that allows someone to take illegal drugs into a pill testing clinic in Queensland, test their illegal, illicit drugs and then walk away with a packet of still illicit drugs in their pocket.”<\/p>\n

Queensland Health and the QPS have been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A drug checking service in Brisbane has been forced to delay its planned reopening after the Queensland government…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":198039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,10934,104594,109848,104592,95255,50,104588,4797,4798,109849,53300,109847],"class_list":{"0":"post-198038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-brisbane","10":"tag-cameron-francis","11":"tag-cheqpoint","12":"tag-jarrod-bleijie","13":"tag-lnp","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-pill-testing","16":"tag-qld","17":"tag-queensland","18":"tag-queensland-health","19":"tag-queensland-police-service","20":"tag-the-loop-australia"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115142909414681518","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}