CanTEST detects 'powerful' veterinary sedative in drugs for the first time

In short:

CanTEST identified a powerful veterinary sedative for the first time in a pill expected to be either benzodiazepine or MDMA.

The facility says it's noticing a trend in unregulated benzodiazepines turning out to be other, potentially dangerous substances instead.

CanTEST said without its facility, knowledge of circulating drugs would rely on toxicology reports after an overdose or adverse response.

A "powerful sedative" for animals has been picked up by Canberra's public drug-checking service, drawing concerns around fake benzodiazepines on the unregulated drug market.

CanTEST said a member of the public brought a green rectangular pill "resembling a Xanax tablet" to them for checking, expecting it to be a benzodiazepine or an MDMA pill.

But it turned out to be medetomidine — a drug commonly used on animals in veterinary settings.

"[Medetomidine] is quite dangerous in terms of its sedation, its risk of overdose and its effect on the body," Directions Health Services acting chief executive Stephanie Stephens told 666 ABC Radio Canberra.

" It lowers blood pressure dangerously and it can be quite long acting and unpredictable. So it's really good to make people aware. "

Ms Stephens said medetomidine's effects could not be reversed by the antidote naloxone, as naloxone is only used for opioid-related overdoses.

Some drugs marketed as 'Xanax'

Ms Stephens said medetomidine was detected this year by the Victorian Pill Service in counterfeit benzodiazepine tablets.

The drug has also "increasingly" been found on the unregulated drug markets in north America and parts of Europe in recent years.

"We're unsure of its presence otherwise within the drug market, which goes to the benefit of drug checking," Ms Stephens said.

" We can get ahead of these kinds of detections and alert people early so that they can be aware. "

She said drug checking meant health workers did not have to wait until an overdose occurred to know what was circulating.

"Without things like drug checking we wouldn't know of its presence, unless we were waiting for toxicology following some sort of adverse event," Ms Stephens said.

Last year, the ACT government issued a warning about other pills marketed as 'Xanax' found to contain a "novel benzodiazepine and a strong synthetic opioid".

"We have seen a trend in counterfeit benzodiazepines being incredibly unreliable," Ms Stephens said.

"So we're keeping an eye on what emerges here.

"Drug checking is the only way to really know what is in the unregulated counterfeit illicit markets."