Like many Australians, I was saddened by reports over the summer of young people experiencing adverse effects as a result of taking drugs at music festivals, including in a number of cases the tragic loss of life. As a parent, while I want my children to make better choices, I would prefer that they came home safely after a night out rather than never making it home at all. What parent would want anything less?

As a doctor and former drug and alcohol clinician, I know firsthand that some people, mostly young people, will continue to use drugs regardless of the legal and policing barriers we may choose to place in their way. I’ve worked in Geelong as a methadone prescriber, in the Aboriginal health service in Tennant Creek with patients struggling with alcohol dependence and in India on HIV prevention with injecting drug users. One thing I’ve learnt is that a “just say no” approach doesn’t work, regardless of whether we are saying it in health clinics or through our police force, court system and prisons.

In recent weeks I have been travelling around the country meeting with health workers, service providers, researchers, drug users, family members, law professionals, researchers and former police officers to discuss how Australia responds to drug issues. These discussions have been overwhelmingly conducted in a respectful and informed manner and a deceptive Courier Mail front page only served to increase interest in our evidence-based perspective on the issue.

This tells me that the mood in Australia is changing and for good reason. Research is finding that while arrests of drug users have increased in recent years, overall drug use is remaining relatively stable in the community. Many police and law enforcement officials have begun to say that we cannot arrest our way out of this situation.

Australia was justifiably renowned as a pioneer in the field of harm reduction when we introduced needle and syringe programs as part of our response to HIV. Back then, there was courage and vision among our politicians and policymakers to try a new way, and police worked with health officials to make it a reality. And it worked. Australia largely avoided the disastrous HIV epidemic among injecting drug users that other countries experienced, including in the communities I worked in India.

After the tragic summer stories and hearing from roundtable participants about practical steps that can be taken to reduce these adverse drug events, I feel compelled to call for a renewed effort on harm reduction, to reclaim our courage and vision.

There are three immediate steps that governments can take in partnership with non-government organisations, police and health authorities to save lives.

The first is to enable a trial of pill testing at public events such as music festivals. Such an initiative would be an admission that event goers are consuming illegal substances, but this is not news. It would provide people with valuable information to inform their decision-making with the likely outcome that there would be fewer adverse events.

Over the weekend, Dr Alex Wodak and Dr David Caldicott announced that they would run a privately organised trial of pill testing. I believe that in 10 years from now we will look back to this moment and liken it to the introduction of needle and syringe programs, and we will consider it a pragmatic and life saving measure.

The second is to remove drug sniffer dogs from public events because we know that they frighten people into taking their drugs in one hit and are contributing to overdoses rather than preventing them. I’ve heard these stories from people who were present and I’ve read the research that backs up the connection between the dogs and the risky behaviour.

The third is in recognition that police and other government agencies hold data and information on the composition of street drugs gained through seizure and hospital presentations. This information could be publicly available, in partnership with non-government organisations, to also enable drug users to make better choices around their drug use. We should explore the potential for governments to work nationally to publish information on a searchable database in a timely manner about “code red” dangerous drugs circulating on the streets.

A researcher at one of the roundtables told us that most people taking ecstasy in Australia do so for a relatively short period, approximately two to three years, and on an occasional basis during that period for particular events. How sad that such experimentation might end in death or serious misadventure when the chances of this occurring can be significantly reduced. Would a grieving parent wish we had done more?

Nothing in what I say should be construed as an argument to go soft on the manufacturers, importers and sellers of drugs. However, a government’s responsibility is to keep our young people safe.

That’s why we need a new approach to help save lives.