Would adding cocaine to the list of drugs that can be detected by Victoria Police in roadside drug testing be too expensive? Would a ‘cocaine test’ cost $169?
That’s the question that was posed by 3AW’s Tom Elliot on his top rating Morning Show to Integrity Sampling Director Michael Wheeldon recently. His response?
Michael answered that he doesn’t believe cost should be a factor for why cocaine is not included in the drugs that can be detected by Victoria Police. And, as for the cost that has been mentioned by some people…
“I don’t believe that a cocaine test is $169. I can’t see why it costs more than other substances,” Michael says.
Michael adds that the decision to not include cocaine in Victoria’s roadside drug testing stems back to when testing began. In 2006, cocaine wasn’t considered as big an issue as other drugs, like cannabis, ecstasy and methamphetamines. Plus, it was assumed that if someone took cocaine, they would also have used another substance.
However, that was in 2006. Fast forward to 2025 and cocaine use in Victoria is on the rise. In the workplace drug testing that Integrity Sampling has carried out, that has seen approximately a 100% rise in detections for cocaine.
Take a listen to the full interview with Tom Elliot below .
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Integrity Sampling’s Michael Wheeldon has been interviewed by 3AW’s Tom Elliot.
