Festival pill testing trial hailed as 'success'

Australia's second pill testing trial has been declared a success by advocates after detecting dangerous substances which were binned by festival-goers.

The ACT government allowed the pill testing trial at Canberra's Groovin the Moo festival on Sunday following an Australian-first pilot last year.

The trial tested 171 samples from 234 participants with MDMA the most prominent substance identified, according to a joint media release from Pill Testing Australia, Take Control and Harm Reduction Australia.

Seven dangerous substances containing N-Ethylpentylone were detected, with patrons using an amnesty bin to toss the drugs once alerted.

N-Ethylpentylone is often mis-sold as MDMA or ecstasy and has been linked to multiple deaths according to the World Health Organization.

"The pilot was again overwhelmingly successful by any measure but particularly by doing everything possible to keep our kids safe," Pill Testing Australia's Gino Vumbaca said.

The New South Wales Coroner is conducting an inquest into the deaths of five people at music festivals between September 2018 and January 2019, as well as two other deaths in 2015 and 2017.