Cameron Francis, national convener of The Loop Australia, shared some pretty great news. A crucial drug checking pharmacy in Queensland will reopen after closing down earlier this year due to a funding withdrawal. The CheQpoint clinic will reopen weekly on Fridays for four hours at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane’s inner north. This pilot effort is set to continue at least through next April. It will fulfill an important missing role in deeply serving the community, directly addressing the growing imperative of overdose prevention.
The clinic will be able to reopen thanks to philanthropic funding from Tanya Nelson-Carnegie. She continues to bring life to innovative and creative social impact projects through her Vasudhara Foundation. The clinic couldn’t be returning at a more important time. Queensland has been facing a serious upsurge in overdose occurrences, particularly across regional jurisdictions, such as in Cairns and Townsville.
The announcement was made by Minister Butler during a function at Parliament House, held to mark International Overdose Awareness Day. Mark Bailey, the Queensland Opposition health spokesman, was also at the event. He pointed to the immediate and pressing need for comprehensive harm reduction efforts.
Clinic Operations and Community Impact
The CheQpoint clinic is open every Friday for four hours. It offers a low-barrier, stigma-free space for people to test their drugs. With this new service, we hope to provide life-saving, science-based information that can help users make safer choices about their consumption. Cameron Francis reiterated the need for informed choice when it comes to drug use.
“We know that if we give people accurate information, they make better choices,” – Cameron Francis
Real world evidence indicates most of the clients were eager to drop their drug dosages long before these sorts of clinics got shut down. They reached this conclusion only after learning the real nature of their products. This is powerful evidence of the dramatic effect that drug checking can have on individual behavior and the wider safety of our communities.
“Each week we’ve not been opened, we’ve been really concerned that there are more people out there flying blind and potentially dying without that information,” Francis remarked. Our CheQpoint clinic is opening back up. This isn’t merely a re-instatement of services, this is a courageous move to circumvent the ongoing drug-induced deaths.
Given our recently released evaluation of the clinic by the University of Queensland, those services are more important than ever. That study showed the incredible power of drug testing clinics to prevent overdose deaths. Despite this evidence, two Queensland drug testing clinics were closed down by the state government earlier this year. The authorized closure only occurred because they suffered the loss of federal appropriations.
Support from Advocates and Stakeholders
Emma Kill, CEO, Queensland Injectors for Advocacy and Action (QuIVVA), welcomed today’s announcement the clinic will reopen. She reminded attendees that overdose deaths are preventable. Most importantly, though, she emphasized the importance of actually enforcing existing overdose prevention policies.
“We have a Queensland overdose prevention policy, we just need to implement it,” – Emma Kill
Kill’s advocacy puts a human face on that distance between policy and practice. It should help highlight the need for comprehensive statewide harm reduction strategies now more than ever. She stressed that everyone who is coming out of incarceration needs this important training. They miss life-saving resources, such as Naloxone, which can reverse opioid overdoses.
“None of them had Naloxone training, none of them were provided with Naloxone prior to exiting the prison. Overdose is preventable and that could have reversed those overdoses if they’d had that knowledge and had Naloxone,” – Emma Kill
Local advocates are resounding a broader national community demand. They stand up for more support and funding for harm reduction projects. Shatter Reality CEO Mark Bailey condemned the government’s decision not to restore funding for drug checking services, calling it a “staggering disappointment.”
“This is best practice; it’s been best practice internationally for decades, other states are doing this and yet [the government] refuse to do it for ideological grounds when in actual fact, what it does is reduces drug use,” – Mark Bailey
The Path Forward for Harm Reduction
As Queensland grapples with an escalating overdose crisis, the CheQpoint clinic stands as a beacon of hope for affected communities. Cameron Francis expressed grave concerns over increasing overdose rates among regional communities. He noted that while the reopening of Brisbane’s clinic is cause for celebration, it’s just a first step in addressing a big picture statewide problem.
“Regional Queensland has seen a big increase in overdoses, and we can open a small service here in Brisbane, but we’re really concerned for the rest of the state and how it is we can scale this up,” – Cameron Francis
The community has been loud and clear in their support for drug checking services. They need broader access and more comprehensive harm reduction programs. Francis remains optimistic about the future and urges community involvement in sustaining these vital services.
“We’ll be really relying on the community to help us keep delivering this life-saving service,” – Cameron Francis
