Firstly, the NSW Coroner can only make recommendations. It is up to, in this instance, the NSW Government of the day to consider any recommendations and implement if they see fit.

Secondly, I am astonished that someone can believe that there is such a thing as safe illegal drug use. No illegal drug use is safe.

Do we really want to live in a society where drug use at festivals is decriminalised?

That's what NSW deputy state coroner Harriet Grahame is recommending.

READ ALSO:

Our say | An imperfect solution is still better than none at all

Some recent deaths that have come about from illegal drug usage at music festivals have been after a 'one-off consumption'. Doesn't that indicate that the risk far outweighs any gain?

I agree with the position of the NSW Premier, along with the Victorian Premier, that it would quite clearly send the wrong message to the community as well as give people a very real false sense of security.

The only safe way to prevent drug-related deaths anywhere, at any time, is not to take illicit drugs.

I was 18 years of age and living in Sydney when Anna Wood tragically died after she took one tablet that contained MDMA. One tablet - that is all it took.

The tablet was not contaminated; her death was purely a reaction to the drug she consumed.

No amount of pill testing would have saved Anna on that occasion, nor would it prevent parents receiving a midnight phone call from the police/ambulance or hospital staff.

I've never taken drugs and, being a father of two young children, I will ensure I pass on the same message to my children.

No illicit substance is safe to take.