A Nowra-based addiction medicine specialist has entered the debate about pill-testing kits, respectfully disagreeing with the NSW Australian Medical Association's stance.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The NSW AMA's president and general practitioner Kean-Seng Lim warned the product could cause more harm than good, following news earlier this month pill-testing kits were in stock at a Vincentia pharmacy.
Dr Frank McLeod thinks he is the only registered addiction medicine specialist working regularly between Wollongong and the NSW-Victorian border.
Dr McLeod said he has major difficulties accepting Dr Lim's perspective.
"I respectfully say that I disagree with his views, which are out of step with most in this field of medicine," Dr McLeod said.
"My admittedly simplistic approach is just this - can any harm come out of drug testing as opposed to the probability or even possibility that it could achieve some good?
"In the same vein and for the same reason, I strongly disagree with the present stance of our Premier [Gladys Berejiklian] for exactly the same reasons.
READ MORE: More medics but no pill tests at festivals
"While I understand governments do and must put a dollar on human life, when the cost is to be covered by the 'user pays' umbrella, where is the downside?"
Dr McLeod is at the end of his 51-year career as a doctor, and has spent 35 years in the addiction medicine specialty.
The kits in question test the purity of illicit substances in ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine, LSD and MDMA tablets
It is understood they were on the shelves at Choice Pharmacy Vincentia for less than a month, and then removed in February.
The pill-testing kits are still available online.
