CLUBS FLAG ECSTASY TESTS

Dance party promoters are considering bringing on-site ecstasy pill testing
to events in Perth.

Partygoers would be able to take their ecstasy pills to a testing station
at the event, where a chemical test would give them a rough idea of what
the pill contained.

Enlighten, an organisation which runs on-site testing in New South Wales
and Victoria, said some Perth promoters had expressed an interest in
bringing the tests to WA.

However, there were no confirmed plans yet because of concerns about the
local police policy on ecstasy testing.

John Davidson, of Enlighten, said police in Victoria and NSW had adopted a
"don't ask don't tell" attitude, but police in Queensland had told
promoters that anyone conducting on-site testing would be arrested and charged.

Enlighten's on-site testing in Victoria found that about half the pills
taken at the events that were thought to be ecstasy turned out to be
something else.

Of the non-ecstasy pills, about half were speed and the other half were
speed mixed with ketamine - an easily obtained tranquilliser used to fake
the "trippy" effect of ecstasy.Mr Davidson said a few pills contained no
identifiable active ingredient and claimed that on-site testing could help
save lives.

"For instance, if a pill contained (the potentially fatal ingredient) PMA
that would show up on the test and we could warn people," Mr Davidson said.

He said the test was analogous to condom use preventing sexually
transmitted diseases - it was not 100 per cent safe, but it was much better
than no protection at all.

A WA police spokesman could not confirm whether the police had a firm
policy on on-site ecstasy testing. He warned that the tests could not tell
users what other harmful substances might be present in an ecstasy tablet.

A spokesman for Health Minister Bob Kucera said ecstasy testing kits could
be a topic for discussion at the Government's proposed drug summit. But
they were not on the agenda for the upcoming meeting of the Australian
Intergovernmental Committee on Drugs.

When the availability of the testing kits was made public last June, they
were condemned by police and then police minister Kevin Prince who said
they promoted drug use.