New Zealand Police Minister Stuart Nash has accused Australia's state and territory police ministers of avoiding reality and burying their heads in the sand over music festival pill testing.

Mr Nash, who supports pill testing but does not condone drug use, told Hack the current 'tough on drugs' approach was not working.

"Young people are taking drugs at festivals, if we bury our head in the sand and say they're not we'll end up like you guys with five deaths," he said.

"That's totally unacceptable as far as I'm concerned."

Asked what he would like to say his state and territory counterparts, he said: "C'mon fellas don't bury your head in the sand, get with 21st century reality.

Just because we support this doesn't mean we condone drug taking in any way shape or form - this is about keeping our young people and our citizens safe.

Pill testing is a harm reduction service that analyses the contents of drugs to help users avoid unknown and potentially dangerous substances.

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It is not supported by any state or territory government except the ACT, which conducted an Australian-first pill testing trial at Groovin the Moo in April last year.

It's also not supported by either major federal political party.

On January 3, Mr Nash broke ranks with his cross-Tasman fellow police ministers, saying pill testing tents "was a fantastic idea and should be installed at all our festivals."

"The war on drugs hasn't worked in the past 20 years, so it's time to change to a more compassionate and restorative approach," he said at the time.

'Jacinda is all for this'

Mr Nash told Hack NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern backed his proposal to remove any legal obstacle to conducting pill testing at festivals.

"Jacinda Ardern is all for this - she thinks this is the sensible way to go," he said.

"The Green Party are all for this and even the National Party - the conservative opposition - has said we support this."

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Whatsapp Johann Hari and Stuart Nash in September 2018.

He said his thinking on the subject had begun to change after reading Johann Hari's 2015 book Chasing the Scream, which follows the story of the 100-year war on drugs, and proposes it has been an abject failure.

"I had dinner with him as well," Mr Nash said.

"That really got me thinking and I did a lot of my own research as well.

"I came to the realisation that if we do bury our head in the sand or criminalise people, that is just not dealing with the reality we face.

"We want to take a more educational and restorative compassionate approach.

"If we believe we're going to lock everyone up who has one ecstasy tablet we're just not dealing with the reality.

"This is about ensuring people are safe."