The Premier of Victoria Jacinta Allan has announced that pill testing will be trialled in Victoria this summer.
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00:00As parents, my husband and I are always thinking about our kids,
00:03growing up and making their own decisions.
00:06In a few years, they'll be heading off to parties, to music festivals.
00:11And like all parents, I often catch myself thinking,
00:14what if the worst happens?
00:16What if one of them doesn't make it home?
00:20And that's every parent's worst nightmare.
00:22And more parents are living it.
00:25Our paramedics responded to more drug overdoses
00:28at festivals in the first three months of this year
00:31than during all of last year.
00:33And I've been speaking to other parents about this too.
00:36One of them put it simply,
00:38young people are smart and they want information.
00:41Their kids get handed a pill at a festival,
00:44they want a medical professional
00:46who can tell them exactly what it is and exactly what it does
00:50without telling them it's safe.
00:52No judgment, just facts.
00:55Honest, open, health-focused conversations.
00:59That's how we change young people's behaviour
01:02and even reduce drug use.
01:04And that's all pill testing is about.
01:07It doesn't make pills legal, but it does keep people safe.
01:11It exists around the world and the evidence says it works.
01:15This is a simple and common sense way to save lives.
01:20That's why we're going to trial it in Victoria this summer.
01:24I'll have more to say this week about how it will work
01:27and the protections we'll put in place.
01:30It's time to give our smart young people the right information.
01:34And let's be clear, no drug is ever truly safe,
01:38but people deserve to know if that one pill will kill.
01:43And if someone's asking for that information
01:45and we have the power to give it to them,
01:48then why on earth wouldn't we?