Aotearoa New Zealand is the first country in the world to have explicitly legal drug checking.
Drug checking is a proven, effective harm reduction tool that saves lives, by providing people with accurate information to make safer decisions. The Drug Foundation is keen to see it expanded to more communities across Aotearoa, including communities working with people who use injected drugs and people who are homeless.
Drug checking services are offered in a few other countries like Netherlands, Portugal, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Spain. However, they all still operate in a legal grey area, in that they’re not explicitly illegal - but they're not legal either.
Drug checking is a free service which tests the safety of recreational drugs. KnowYourStuffNZ, the Drug Foundation, the Needle Exchange and ESR are NZ's legal drug checking service providers. ESR also provides technical oversight.
Find your nearest drug checking clinic with this calendar on The Level. These clinics are free, legal and discreet.
If you can't make it to a clinic, you can check your drugs at home using a reagent test.
18 January 2023
Drug checking services at Rhythm and Vines found potent psychedelic and stimulant, 25B-NBOH, sold as tabs of LSD.
22 December 2022
Ahead of summer, here's a look at what's showing up at drug checking clinics across Aotearoa.
04 July 2022
Drug Foundation executive director Sarah Helm discusses recent fentanyl overdoses in Wairarapa and how we can avoid fentanyl deaths in futur...
01 August 2019
Otago University Students Association chief executive Debbie Downs tells how she came around to the idea of introducing checking of recreati...
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