In a perfect world, there would be no drought, hunger and war.

And in a perfect world we wouldn't have to contemplate pill testing at music festivals.

But we don't live in a perfect world, and we can't allow the fallacy that we do guide our policy making.

The question of pill testing is again on the agenda following a spate of music festival deaths in recent months.

The death of a 20-year-old man from a suspected drug overdose at the Beyond The Valley festival in Victoria last weekend was the fourth tragedy in as many months in this country, and something must be done.

It's easy to understand the opposition to pill testing, the idea that such a move would effectively legitimise illegal drugs at these festivals.

But, just as was the case when NSW finally approved safe injecting rooms for heroin users in the 1990s, policy makers must sometimes cede the occasional battle with a view on winning the greater war.

Drug use is a fact of life, particularly around the music festival scene. And this is not the first generation of young Australians to be dabbling in substances they would be well advised.

Risk-taking is an unfortunate fact of life for all young people and, as a society, we must do what we can to guide them through the stage.

When they fall, when they’re injured, and even when they’re stupid, the rest of us must be there to help. We cannot turn away and say they should have known better.

And if we accept that all attempts to stop pills being taken into festivals have failed, then a mature society should also accept responsibility for making it safe to take those pills.

Pill testing is a message to our young people that we value their lives more than we value our need to control what they do.

It sends a message that we know they will make mistakes, but we do not believe they should pay for those mistakes with their lives.

It’s far from an ideal solution and it’s easy to understand not everyone would be comfortable with the proposal.

But in an imperfect world, we must sometimes settle for imperfect solutions.

And you can be sure every parent would back pill testing in a flash if it was their son or daughter about to take a deadly dose.