Illicit drugs will one day be decriminalised but in the meantime "we talk and they die".

This is according to Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation president Alex Wodak who, along with former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Palmer, says Australia's drug policies are failing.

Former Federal Police Commissioner Mick Palmer. Credit:ABC

They say young people would benefit from pill-testing at music festivals following a spate of overdose deaths last summer.

Mr Palmer, who was AFP commissioner for seven years to April 2001, says it's time for the nation to accept police-based prohibition has failed.