ABOUT US
The Loop Australia is an Australian not-for-profit organisation established in 2018 to develop the sustainable provision of drug checking services in Australia. We believe that drug checking services should be freely accessible to people who may use drugs, including in community-based settings and drug health services, in order to engage with these populations and educate them regarding specific risks of drugs that may be circulating.
Our organisation comprises an executive and an advisory committee of experts in the public health, legal, police and entertainment fields, as well as state-based teams in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Our state-based teams comprise professional chemists, sociologists, drug and alcohol specialists, GPs, toxicologists, pharmacists and other healthcare staff, trained to deliver state-specific drug checking, with a number already experienced in delivering such services in Australia and overseas.
We are a sister organisation to the Loop UK which formed in 2013 and has provided welfare, harm reduction and testing at nightclubs, festivals and other events since 2013, and drug checking for the public since 2016. Our efforts are guided by local expertise and knowledge, as well as by the experience of The Loop UK and other international groups that have successfully implemented drug checking services. The Loop UK is led by Prof Fiona Measham, a Professor of Criminology at Durham University who has worked extensively researching licit and illicit drug markets both in the UK and overseas. For further information on the work of The Loop UK please visit wearetheloop.org.
