Campaigners have said they are willing to face arrest to conduct a pill-testing trial in Australia.

But Police Minister Troy Grant says he has no plans to heed the call because a pill-testing trial was not needed to confirm illegal drugs were dangerous.

On Sunday, a cabal of health experts, including the President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation Alex Wodak, said they would risk arrest if necessary to undertake a pill-testing trial at major Australian festivals.

“We are going to do this,” Dr Wodak told Fairfax Media. “Doctors, analysts who know how to operate the [testing] machines and peer interviewers who can translate the scientific results and explain to people why the drug they bought is talcum powder or highly toxic.

“The idea is to save lives. I am prepared to break the law to save young people’s lives.”

Five people have died since in a little over a year after taking illegal drugs at Australian music festivals. Sylvia Choi was just 25 when she overdosed on pills at the Stereosonic festival in Sydney last November while Stefan Woodward, 19, died in exactly the same way a week later. In September, Nigel Pauljevic, who was described by his family as a “caring, loving sensitive soul” died after being found unconscious in a tent at the Defqon. 1 Festival in western Sydney.

Daniel Buccianti died at the Rainbow Serpent Festival in 2012 after taking drugs. His mother, Adriana, supports pill testing. Supplied.Source:Supplied

KILL OR POISON

Dr Wodak was part of the team that spearheaded the first medically-supervised injecting room in Australia for heroin users. While controversial, it continues to operate in Sydney’s Kings Cross to this day

Matt Noffs, chief executive officer of the Noffs Foundation, which works with young people with drug and alcohol problems, said the Government should take a similar approach.

“Back then, the Government and police didn’t like the idea but they said ‘we’re going to stand back and capture that data’ and, sure enough, [the injecting room] has been a proven tactic in reducing heroin abuse in Australia.

“It makes far more sense for the Government to say ‘we don’t like it, but were going to see the evidence’, instead of arresting [those people] conducting a pill-testing trial or arresting young people who are courageously coming forward to have their drugs tested so they can work out if they are going to kill or poison them.”

Matt Noffs, chief executive officer of the Noffs Foundation which works with young people with drug and alcohol problems, said the Government and pill testing advocates need to sit down and have a discussions. Picture: Craig WilsonSource:News Corp Australia

DRUGS POLICIES NOT WORKING

Mr Noffs said he believed those agitating for a pill-testing trial should have reached out to the Government and police before announcing their plans. But now it is out in the open, it was imperative for both sides to talk.

Adriana Buccianti’s son Daniel died in 2012 at the Rainbow Serpent music festival, in Eastern Victoria, after talking ecstasy.

After calling his mother begging to be collected from the festival, and becoming so disorientated he didn’t know where he was, he collapsed and died.

“I bet my bottom dollar if my son was able to go somewhere and test his drugs and they said ‘you know this is 100 times stronger than you’ve had before’, he would never have taken it,” Mrs Buccianti told news.com.au in December.

“We’ve had five deaths and no amount of dogs and searching has stopped that. I have full respect for the law and the police, but it’s clear our drugs policies are not working,” she said.

A spokeswoman for Mr Grant told news.com.au the minister had “no plans” to begin a pill-testing trial.

“This Government does not support pill-testing because these drugs are illegal and dangerous.

“We are working on a strategy to reduce harm at music festivals through the promotion of drug-free events with the appropriate police resources to enforce the law and medical staff on site.”

Sylvia Choi, 25, a Sydney pharmacist who died of a drug overdose after collapsing at Stereosonic Music Festival at Olympic Park in Sydney.Source:Supplied

NOT EXPERTS

On Sunday, NSW Premier, Mike Baird, dismissed a trial as “ridiculous”.

“We are not going to be condoning in any way what illegal drug dealers are doing”.

Mr Noffs rubbished the Premier and Police Minister’s conclusion that pill-testing would not work.

“They’re pretending they’re experts when they’re not, they should find out the evidence.”

While he commended Mr Baird for being one of the “bravest” politicians he knew, he said the Premier may have burnt a number of political bridges with his support for a medicinal cannabis trial. But, nevertheless, hard decisions had to be made when it came to the deaths of young people.

“Political heaven holds dear those who are bold in a crisis and this is absolutely a crisis.

“If you look at the timeline of people who are dying, it’s not getting better, it’s getting worse.”