Whether or not Mick Gentleman flirted with marijuana in the 1970s is irrelevant when far too many young people are being killed by deadly, home cooked, pills at music festivals across the country.

It really doesn't matter if the chief minister ate a pot-laced brownie, or if the Greens leader, Shane Rattenbury, took MDMA at a party 20 years ago and lived to tell the tale.

The real issue is what can be done to stop more young lives being lost.

We should be focussing on Alex Ross-King, Joshua Tam, Callum Brosnan, Joseph Pham and Diana Nguyen; the five teenagers and young adults who have died at NSW music festivals since last September.

Three separate music festivals, all of which have been described as "high risk" for illicit drugs, are to be held across Sydney this Australia Day weekend. They are "Electric Gardens", "Hardcore Til I Die" and "Rolling Loud".

The odds, given the strong turnout at similar events in the ACT, are that dozens if not hundreds of young Canberrans will travel north for these events.

Once there, unlike at last year's local Groovin' the Moo festival, they will not have access to pill testing. This is despite the fact the ACT trial proved successful and is credited with potentially saving lives.

With NSW standing firm on its refusal to countenance pill testing, that state's current music festival drug countermeasures are police and drug detection dogs, specialised critical care medical teams and a social media campaign spelling out the dangers associated with illegal drugs.

Festival goers will be encouraged to head to specially designated "Chill Out zones" and medical tents if they "feel out of sorts" apparently.

It would be better to give them the information they need to make an informed decision on whether or not to take a potentially lethal pill in the first place.

While nobody has ever claimed testing is a magic bullet that would eliminate deaths overnight, it is the best thing we have at the moment.

It has been shown, both in the ACT and in Europe, to provide that important pause during which a partygoer is given the opportunity to reconsider whether or not a cheap thrill from a pill is worth losing their life, health or future happiness over.

Why is it some politicians, who claim to care about young lives, are so hell-bent on blocking one of the few effective harm reduction measures available?

It seems an absurd position given 63 per cent of voters, including 57 per cent of Liberal/National voters, support testing so long as trained counsellors are available to provide risk reduction advice.

If the skeptics aren't satisfied with the evidence that is already on the table then the answer is to conduct more trials and collect more data.

This issue is too important to be decided on the basis of personal prejudices and political expediency alone. Young lives are at risk. Let's hope no more are lost this weekend.