The NSW Government introduced a 12-month trial drug checking program at selected music festivals. The trial started in early 2025 and concluded in February 2026.
The drug checking services allow people attending selected music festivals to test small samples of substances intended for personal use. Qualified health staff provide a rapid evaluation of the main components of the substance and an indication of potency where possible.
The purpose of drug checking services at festivals is to reduce risks and harms associated with illicit drug use.
Trained peers and health workers provide people with information and harm reduction advice. This information can help people make informed decisions and minimise drug-related harms and deaths.
The trial is now being independently evaluated to inform future program development.
The trial provided drug checking services at 12 music festivals in NSW during a 12-month trial. The trial is now being independently evaluated.
The services were staffed by a combination of trained peer workers from NUAA and qualified health staff, including analytical scientists and clinicians.
NUAA is a peer-led harm reduction org supporting people who use or have used drugs across NSW, delivering programs like postal naloxone, peer education, User’s News, DanceWize.
Yes. The service was free for people attending festivals included in the trial.
The program was funded by NSW Health.
When a person entered a festival drug checking area, they spoke to a trained harm reduction worker who explained the process.
They were required to agree to a waiver noting the limitations of testing and that no level of illicit drug consumption is safe.
The person then provided a small sample of the substance to be tested, and an analytical scientist tested the sample.
The sample was tested, and after a short time, the person had a conversation with a peer worker from NUAA and a health worker, if needed, to discuss the test results, potential dangers and how to reduce their risk and appropriate harm reduction and health services they could access.
Amnesty bins were available for the safe disposal of drugs within the drug checking service.
No. Staff at drug checking services did not tell people if it was safe to use a drug. Staff offered tailored and general information on how to reduce harms from these drugs.
The trial used a mix of technologies to test for the main components of the substance and an indication of potency (strength) where possible.
Drug checking services did not provide a guarantee of safety.
The combination of equipment that was used in the trial can identify a wide range of drugs, including those commonly seen at music festivals. A limitation of on-site testing capability was that low levels of drugs in a sample may be difficult to detect. So if a sample contains a low level of fentanyl or nitazenes, that may not show up in the analysis.
If the main components of a substance could not be identified using the equipment available on-site, the person was asked if they would surrender the sample for confirmatory testing.
Confirmatory testing was conducted by NSW Health Pathology Forensic & Analytical Science Service.
Regardless of the result of the drug testing, people are provided with harm reduction advice.
People were asked a set of questions by the peer staff when they used the service. Information about people’s drug use and information about the drug sample/s they provided for testing were not linked to their personal identity.
Analytical results from the drug checking services were integrated into NSW's existing rapid drug surveillance, early warning and response system. This work can alert the community when there is a public health risk related to substances circulating in the community.
Harm reduction peer workers were available to provide information and harm reduction advice to help people make informed decisions, and support people to access harm reduction and health services they may need.
It was not illegal to use the drug checking services that were part of this trial.
NSW Health and NSW Police worked together to ensure that patrons could access the drug checking service without concern.
The trial operated alongside other harm reduction and medical services at the selected festivals.
