Five deaths at music festivals in less than five months. And, if I listen to some critics, the one thing stopping pill testing is that it is seen as people like me giving the green light to drug use.

I need to get my head around this. Me – a 33-year police practitioner and former federal police commissioner – giving the green light to drug use?

Pill testing could stop deaths at music festivals. Credit:Wolter Peeters

The reality could not be further divorced from this view. When it comes to drugs I’m about the straightest guy in town. I’ve never taken any illicit drugs and would love to live in a drug-free world. Of course that has never been the case and never will be.

I would also love to support a “Just Say No” campaign, if it had any chance of success. The reality is, of course, that it never has and never will.