A few other concerns I don't see in the conversation.

How much would pill testing services cost to run, and who would be doing them?

Assuming the service creates a zone of protection from police so that illegal drugs can be tested, then what kind of regulation is there to keep the tests honest? Either from one concerned person testing the pills telling everyone who comes to test it, "you can die from this," regardless of the results. Or alternatively, a drug dealer at the party could bribe the testing station to only give positive results that the drug is fine. If there's no regulation there's no reason to trust the testing source at a drug popping party.

Can the service be, not just informative on the contents of the pills, but also be tested by someone who knows the long term and short term effects of common drugs to add an element to discourage the people testing the pills from taking the drugs.

If these services are available, how long are they available before the results are looked at to see if this has helped in reducing illegal drug use. If it isn't working to reduce the use of illegal drugs there needs to be a point to kill the program.

Honestly, I don't see much good coming out of this kind of a program, but that's largely because it sounds like it's meant to inform instead of stop drug use. Basically giving it the OK if it passes a test. If it's put into place it should be there with a specific purpose that can be checked in a population survey to determin if drug use has gone down, up or stayed the same. If it's gone up, kill the program. Even put that restriction into the bill to leglislate it.

"What would Jesus do?"

He would heal people, teach people, and convict them of their sins so that they can turn from their sins. A constant message from Jesus was to repent and turn from your sins, and turn to God.

Also Jesus pointed out the hypocracy of the religous leaders at that time because of the harm they put the people under for their benifits. I would have to assume, if Jesus was at these parties he would speak out against the drug dealers calling them for what they are. Murders, and the scum that likes the young.

Those asking "what would Jesus do,"are you ok with more teaching based on what Jesus taught? Because I think that's a great idea. Not just for the drug scene mind you, but also including the drug scene.

//Either from one concerned person testing the pills telling everyone who comes to test it, "you can die from this," regardless of the results.//

No, because that could potentially be dishonest. Believe it or not, some unscrupulous 'drug' dealers will sell pills with no active ingredient at all. If you run the sample through your chromatograph and the chromatograph tells you that their pill is nothing more than glucose and blue food colouring, I would consider it extremely dishonest - not to mention irresponsible - to lie and tell them a small sugar pill will do them any more harm than a gummi bear. The nocebo effect is just as real as the placebo effect, and telling people that non-toxic compounds are toxic is a very silly and risky to do.

Also, although there is no formal code of ethics for analytical technicians, we are trained in chemistry and like everybody with formal training in the sciences, it is drilled into us heavily from day one that YOU DON"T COOK THE BOOKS. Ever. Falsifying data is just wrong. And it doesn't help anybody.

//Or alternatively, a drug dealer at the party could bribe the testing station to only give positive results that the drug is fine. If there's no regulation there's no reason to trust the testing source at a drug popping party.//

Gosh, that's a bit cynical even by my standards. Have you considered the possibility that the technicians doing the testing might not be completely amoral psychopaths? That they might just be normal, decent, regular people who would consider it completely unconscionable to turn a blind eye to people swallowing Draino just because some dealer waves a few pineapples at them?

//but also be tested by someone who knows the long term and short term effects of common drugs//

So, all the stuff that everybody knows already because it is drilled into them relentlessly all throughout school, and on the off chance that they were home-schooled or something, can look up in no time at all on their handy telephonic devices?

http://adf.org.au/drug-facts/

Yeah, that shouldn't be too hard too arrange. As I said, everybody knows it already. And they still take drugs... after all, you can stick gruesome photos of what smoking does to you on cigarette packs, and people still buy them.

What's more important is having somebody with a decent working knowledge of the many and varied compounds that will inevitably accompany the drug, or as mentioned above, possibly entirely replace the drug. Sounds like a job for a chemist. It's no good just having some drug educator interpret the results if they focus entirely on the dangerous combination of ketamine and GHB but totally ignores the dimethylmethylmercury because it's not a drug, so it must be totally safe, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethylmercury

//Those asking "what would Jesus do,"are you ok with more teaching based on what Jesus taught? Because I think that's a great idea. Not just for the drug scene mind you, but also including the drug scene.//

Please, by all means feel free to share with us his teachings on the harmful and addictive drug that is alcohol, with particular reference to his first miracle at the wedding at Cana. I can't imagine what other drugs aside from alcohol Jesus would have had anything to say about; as far as I know it's the only drug mentioned in the Bible because it's the only one the authors were familiar with at the time.

"What would Jesus do?"

I think Jesus should have a word with his father to end corruption, poverty, illness & make humans sterile before 25 & after 35.

More youth die on our roads from stupid actions each year than from taking drugs. Are we testing the sensibility of youth before each time they drive a car?

Is the Government culpable for not testing each time a youth drives a car? The whole proposal is ridiculous and the Police should arrest those seeking to have their pills tested as it endangers their life; similarly the Police should arrest a person acting stupidly on our roads.