Canberra's confidential pill-testing service, which allows people to check what substances are in the illicit drugs they buy, has been extended.
The free service — the only one of its type in Australia — began as a six-month trial in July last year, analysing pills and providing health advice to anyone who dropped in.
The ACT government will now allow it to continue operating until at least August.
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said Canberrans had shown strong support for the service, which is named CanTEST.
Its users "reported positive experiences … without fear of judgement", she said.
CanTEST, which opens twice a week in the CBD, allows people to drop off drug samples anonymously.
It analysed 371 substances in its first four months.
Almost one in five people discarded their drug at the clinic when they learned what was actually in it.
"The ACT government does not support or condone illicit drug use, and our advice to the community will always be to not take drugs," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
"However, we recognise that some people will use illicit drugs.
"Drug checking, alongside expert advice and brief health interventions, can reduce the harms associated with drug use, especially for people who may have limited drug-taking experience."
Drug tests are 'influencing behaviour'
The government also released findings from an Australian National University-led evaluation of the trial's first three months.
Two-thirds of the people who used CanTEST were under the age of 35, and almost all were from Canberra.
Drug users most commonly thought they were testing MDMA, ketamine, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
The substances thought to be ketamine were the least likely to be as described.
Overall, about 21 per cent of drugs were not what users thought they were, and the results were uncertain in another 10 per cent of cases.
When people were told the drug was something else, most indicated they would not use it.
The evaluation report noted about two-thirds of CanTEST's clients had never discussed their drug use with a health professional before they visited.
"Early analyses suggest that the service is influencing service users' behaviours in a number of ways, including their discarding their drugs at the service, and a significant proportion stating that they 'definitely will not' use the drug after having received their test results," it concluded.
The report also said the service needed more resources, especially to cope with big increases in demand before popular music festivals.
Calls to expand testing interstate
Stephanie Stephens, the acting chief executive of Directions Health Services, which operates CanTEST, said the trial had already provided potentially life-saving information.
Last month, the ACT government issued a health alert after the pill-testing service discovered a deadly synthetic opioid in what was wrongly believed to be oxycodone tablets.
"Without CanTEST, we would not have identified dangerous and unexpected drugs circulating in Canberra or had the opportunity to have a non-judgemental, practical and evidence-based discussion about drugs, their contents and potency with the people planning to use them," Ms Stephens said.
Nonetheless, the ACT remains the only jurisdiction to support pill testing, despite a recent coronial inquest recommending New South Wales adopt it.
The federal government — which administers some parts of Canberra, such as the area near parliament — also refuses to allow pill testing on its land in the ACT.
Gino Vumbaca, the president of Harm Reduction Australia & Pill Testing Australia, thanked the ACT government for extending the CanTEST trial.
He said it was now time for other governments to act.
"The lack of pill testing services outside Canberra is an ongoing tragedy for far too many people and families, and begs the question of how much more evidence is required for these services to be established," Mr Vumbaca said.
