What is drug checking?
The EUDA (European Union Drugs Agency) defines drug checking as services that provide individuals who use drugs with information on the chemical content of their drugs as well as advice and, sometimes, counselling or brief interventions. Service priorities vary and may include information collection, harm reduction and early warning. The analytical techniques used also vary: from sophisticated technology that is able to provide information on strength and content of a wide variety of substances, such as high-performance liquid chromatography and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, to methods that simply show the presence or absence of a particular drug, such as thin-layer chromatography and reagent test kits.
The sites at which testing occurs include drop-in services with fixed laboratories (âfixed siteâ), where individuals and organisations can submit drugs for testing (with results immediately or days later), and mobile laboratories at festivals, clubs or drug consumption rooms, which provide almost immediate results.
An important aspect of drug-checking services is how the results are communicated to individuals and whether this is accompanied by harm reduction advice and brief interventions.
Spotlight on… Drug checking | www.euda.europa.eu
Although drug checking services operate in at least 28 countries globally and in three Australian jurisdictions, drug checking remains a legally, politically and commercially sensitive health service.
Since we began back in late 2022, the options for drug checking in Australia have changed significantly. We support and promote drug checking services across Australia and New Zealand and hope that these become more widely available over time.
If you want to learn more about how they work and why they are a good idea, go to Pill testing in Australia – Alcohol and Drug Foundation.
New Zealand has been way ahead of Australia, having drug checking services since 2000 by KnowYourStuff NZ. They can be booked to attend events, provide a library of results, and have a wealth of other information at Know Your Stuff NZ .
Drug checking is available at regular community clinics across New Zealand, as well as some festivals. You can find times and locations at NZ Drug Foundation.
All drug testing locations can analyse pills, capsules and raw concentrates, but there are currently no free services in Australia or New Zealand able to analyse oil-based steroids. The only option for these types of drugs is to send a sample to an overseas laboratory for paid analysis. The only lab we recommend is Trusted Laboratory Testing of Anabolics, Peptides and More – JANOSHIK, as we have done a significant amount of work with them. Oil samples need to be sent in small, sealed vials â we sell empty 2ml vials approved for use by Janoshik HERE.
To her more information on what Janoshik do, watch our interview with Janoshik staff on our Youtube channel – HERE.
ACT
Canberra has led the way with drug checking in Australia, opening Australiaâs first drug checking trial in 2022. The CanTEST service is currently approved to continue through to 2027. Go to CanTEST Canberra – Health & Drug Checking Service for location and opening times, as well as previous results.
CanTEST can analyse most drugs, but cannot currently do oil-based steroids. However, they can test tablets, capsules and raw concentrates.
VIC
A mobile pill testing trial started in Victoria in the summer of 2024 with the purpose of attending 10 festivals and events in an 18-month period. A fixed site service is due to open mid-2025 in Melbourne city.
This fixed site service will be able to analyse pills, capsules and raw concentrates, and they are working on it being able to analyse oil-based steroids as well! Watch this space for updates!
Victoria’s pill testing trial | health.vic.gov.au
NSW
A similar pill testing trial at festivals has begun in NSW, and will run for 12 months. There is no plan for a fixed site service as yet.
NSW to trial pill testing at music festivals in 2025 | NSW Government
QLD
Cheqpoint in Queensland was the only service that has been able to analyse oil-based injectable drugs such as steroids. Although CheQpoint closed in April 2025, we hope pill testing services will run in QLD again in future.
To see their results and read about the program, go to CheQpoint | Queenslandâs Free Drug Checking Service – Quihn.
SA
No drug checking services
TAS
No drug checking services
NT
No drug checking services
WA
No drug checking services
At-home test kits provide a presumptive check of illegal drugs and steroids. Until free, comprehensive drug checking is available to everyone, test kits are the next best option to reduce potential harm.
The Bristol Drugs Project in the UK explain how reagent kits can be of use when drug checking services arenât available:
Reagent testing is the most accessible but least accurate type of testing available. They work by changing colour in the presence of different drugs. These colour changes are then compared to the reference chart â if the colours match, youâve probably got the drug you think you have. There can be a bit of a learning curve involved in interpreting the results, but most people find it gets easier over time.
Reagent kits are presumptive tests â this means the results need some interpretation and cannot give binary results. They can tell you âthis is definitely not the substance I thought it wasâ or âthis is probably the substance I thought it wasâ but youâll never be able to be 100% confident of the result. It takes a matter of minutes to test a sample, which is useful for people who buy their drugs just before they plan on taking them.
Reagent testing is not able to tell you the purity or dose of what youâre testing. For example, if you test a pill that you suspect contains MDMA and you get an âas expectedâ result (this means the sample is probably what you think it is), you still wouldnât know if the pill contains 100mg or 300mg of MDMA. Without this information, itâs much more difficult to know how much is likely to be safe to take. Theyâll also struggle with samples containing more than one substance as the reaction from one substance can âmuddyâ or mask the reaction of another.
Thatâs not to say that reagent testing doesnât have value â it absolutely does! Any information on what youâre taking is better than nothing and reagent tests can provide that. Weâve seen recently some drugs sold as âMDMAâ that turned out to be 4-CMC, another drug entirely. A reagent kit would pick up on this straight away.
Here at PEDTest Australia, we recommend a combination of kit testing, blood test (for steroid users) and lab analysis (where possible) to get a complete picture of what you are using and how it is affecting your health.
