A Liberal National Party MP has argued pill testing should be on the agenda in Queensland, in contrast with the official line from his party.
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Member for Moggill Christian Rowan, an addiction medicine specialist, said he did not condone drug use but substance misuse was occurring, and pill testing should be considered.
"We need to be considering everything in every possible way that can be done to reduce the harms," Dr Rowan told ABC Radio Brisbane.
"We need to understand as legislators and as a community that within the comprehensive range of strategies to reduce harms, that we need to consider this [pill testing]."
It comes after several people have died after taking drugs at festivals in New South Wales and Victoria in recent months, including 22-year-old Brisbane rugby player Josh Tam, who was the victim of a suspected deadly pill at Sydney's Lost Paradise music festival at the weekend.
Dr Rowan, a former president of the Australian Medical Association, said there was international evidence that pill testing had reduced harm, and it could be used alongside greater education and campaigns.
"In the process of piloting pill testing arrangements, [we can be] seeing that as an opportunity for an intervention ... if people are presenting those tablets to have them tested, it can be an opportunity to tell them the risks of taking those particular tablets because they've had impurities," he said.
However, Dr Rowan's position was at odds with deputy leader Tim Mander who on Wednesday said he was concerned about mixed messages and believed pill testing could give partygoers a false sense of security.
Mr Mander said there would have to be "overwhelming evidence from research" to suggest pill testing would help before the LNP could offer support.
"We have to remember that these substances are illegal and they're illegal for a reason," he said.
"One pill can kill and we need to educate our young people that you don't need to be on drugs to have a good time at a concert."
Mr Mander said he had not read the final report from an Australian-first pill testing trial at the Groovin The Moo festival in Canberra in April last year.
The trial, run by STA-Safe consortium, uncovered two dangerous substances, including a stimulant responsible for the hospitalisation of 13 people in New Zealand and NBOMe, a powerful hallucinogen linked to three deaths in Melbourne in 2017.
Volunteers tested 85 samples, half of which contained substances such as paint, toothpaste and condensed milk.
Dr Rowan said he had not yet had an opportunity to talk to his LNP colleagues about pill testing.
"I think it's important to have a debate around that.
"I'm sure that I'll be talking to my colleagues in due course, many of them are away."
But Dr Rowan said he had been speaking about the harms of illicit drug use for many years.
Health Minister Steven Miles said Queensland Health was considering the findings of the STA-Safe report.
"I'm distressed to read about the death of Joshua Tam in NSW and now another young man in Victoria," he said.
"It's every parent's worse nightmare and my thoughts are with their family and friends."
Australian Conservatives Senate candidate for Queensland Lyle Shelton urged Labor and LNP politicians to "hold the line" on pill testing.
"As a father of teenagers, I fully get the compassionate motivation that lies behind calls for pill testing at music festivals," he said.
"No one wants to see kids die but if we greenlight their illegal drug taking by making them think drugs can be safe, more will do it and more will wreck their lives in the long run."
