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Pledge Me: Help expand drug checking

If it’s not true to label, then what are people taking?

With the summer festival circuit over for another year, some people will be looking back on a close shave they had as a result of using drug......

ChEckiT out

The dance party scene is renowned for being up with the latest and best dance-enhancing substances. But sometimes things can go wrong. ChEck......

Taking a reading of the pills

Journalist Russell Brown talks with those behind free drug checking, whose job is made all the more difficult for having to operate under th......

Festival-goers more informed - and more cautious

KnowYourStuffNZ have analysed results from drug checking they offered at several festivals around NZ over the summer. Read a summary of the ......

Getting the facts out is overdue

The tragic deaths in Auckland that were likely caused by new synthetic drugs is a wake up call....

Keeping safer under summer skies

Photo essay: A day in the life of drug safety checking at a kiwi music festival....

Free drug checking

The Drug Foundation is calling for drug checking services to be available at venues such as festivals and nightclubs, to reduce harm caused ......

Festival drug checking trial: Summary of results

During the 2016/2017 summer festival season, we helped community group KnowYourStuffNZ offer free drug testing to more than three hundred fe......

Astonishing results from free testing of illicit drugs at festivals

Many festival-goers take drugs. But last summer, a significant number decided against it after being told the drug they were about to take w......

Donate to help expand free drug checking at festivals

Help our PledgeMe campaign. We're asking New Zealanders to support the expansion of free drug checking services at more music festivals....

Festival drug checking: Trying to save lives

The drug checking team will be back doing the rounds at music festivals this summer, practicing harm reduction and trying to save lives....

Summer alert: It looks like MDMA but it's not

There’s a new drug on the scene at festivals, and it's NOT Ecstasy...

You think it’s MDMA – but is it?

You think it's MDMA - but it could be N-ethylpentylone, which is much more dangerous...

Free Drug Checking

Free drug checking gives people accurate information about what is in their drugs, allowing them to make more informed choices for their saf......

Keep calm and keep to the facts about novel synthetic substances

Dear media: In the stampede to get the story out first, please check your facts....

Let’s take the ambulance to the top of the cliff

Not MDMA - the public needs to be warned about Nethylpentylone...

HR17: Harm reduction from the users' perspective

Crucial lessons for New Zealand: Last month two Drug Foundation staff, Samuel Andrews and Gilbert Taurua travelled to Montreal, the architec......

Cheese, chocolate, watches - and heroin-assisted treatment

Switzerland’s national drug policy, introduced in the 1990s, comprises four pillars: prevention, therapy, harm reduction and prohibition. Th......

Urgent synthetics response underway

The Drug Foundation is teaming up with over a dozen organisations to support the Ministry of Health in developing a coordinated response to ......

Portugal: putting health and welfare at the centre of drug policy

With solid evidence showing punitive approaches to drugs do not work, the question that arises is what to do instead? In this first instalme......

Opinion: Don't freak out over changing drug laws

Kiwis should have another look at their drug laws, writes Ross Bell, Drug Foundation executive director...

There’s an app for that

There are new apps and programs designed to help your sobriety, but can technology replace face-to-face recovery? Sarah Peters takes a look ......

Playing Russian roulette

Seems the inventor of the psychoactive chemicals found in synthetic cannabis products has little nice to say about the profiteering purveyor......

Erowid et al

Politics, the law and logistics make it difficult for official resources to provide frank, up-to-date information on psychoactive drugs. Tha......

A Kiwi in the land of legal cannabis

The Drug Foundation's Stephen Blyth visits US states where it's legal to possess, use and sell cannabis...

History never repeats

New Zealand’s history of drugs and the laws to control them....

Poor foundations – testing homes for meth gone awry

Across New Zealand, tenants are losing their homes and possessions – or receiving debilitating bills – because their houses are found to be ......

A court that heals

Offenders opting to come under New Zealand’s first Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court choose a stretch of healing, rather than jail time......

Home

Information & Advice

All substance use brings a risk of harm. Be informed about your drug use....

Policy & Advocacy

This section includes details of the areas that the NZ Drug Foundation is actively working on....

Getting real about synthetics

Naomi Arnold takes another look at our alarming death rate from synthetic cannabinoids and at some real-world responses from people working ......

Māori MPs reconsider drug law

A succession of reports show that Māori are affected significantly more than Pākehā by our drug laws. Russell Brown looks into the issues an......

Drug policy talk at Q Station, Sydney

Being sequestered at an abandoned quarantine station in Manly provided the perfect location for some deep thinking about drug policy researc......

Matters of Substance

Our regular Matters of Substance magazine is one way we share the best writing on drug policy and practice based on the best evidence availa......

What we do

Get an overview of the NZ Drug Foundation's work....

Board and Management

Details for the Board members and staff of the NZ Drug Foundation. Updated May 2017....

Doing LAPs

With few Local Alcohol Plans (LAPs) in place, communities are forced into being reactive when faced with new applications for liquor licence......

Face Trashed

Alcohol marketing on social media is cheap, successful and legal. But researchers say New Zealand should be attempting to control marketers’......

1-day symposium: Cannabis Conundrums and Other Drug Policy Challenge

A one day course exploring what it means to put in place a public health approach to drugs, and how do we get there. Wellington, 26 February......

About Us

Find out what the NZ Drug Foundation stands for, our plans and achievements, and who is involved....

Statement of principles

An outline of the principles behind the work of the NZ Drug Foundation....

Synthetic cathinones

Drug law reform needed to end Māori over-incarceration, says Drug Foundation

The government must urgently act to end the persistent failure by the criminal justice system to address disproportionate Māori reoffending ......

Being Safer

If you are using drugs, it is important to know the risks, your rights, and what you are using....

The benefit in doubt

Welfare beneficiaries who use alcohol and drugs are likely to be targeted under a new, tougher regime if recommendations by the Welfare Work......

Helping Someone

Drug use doesn’t always lead to dependence or addiction....

Shulgin was known to many as the “Godfather of ecstasy”

Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin was born on 17 June 1925 and died, aged 88, at home in California on 2 June 2014....

Privacy & Cookies

Starting a conversation

Tips for conversations about the challenges a student is facing that may be getting in the way of their education....

Workplaces

Managing alcohol and other drug use in the workplace....

Drug Index

Get harm reduction information about common drugs in New Zealand. Each page describes the effects of using, advice for reducing risk, signs ......

Heroin

Heroin is the most potent type of drug created from the opium poppy. It typically comes as a white or brown powder....

NBOMe

NBOMe is a potent group of synthetic hallucinogenic drugs that mimic LSD and have been linked to many deaths overseas....

Mythbusters - Death by withdrawal

Can a person chronically dependent on alcohol really die if they abruptly stop drinking? Or is this just another clever excuse not to part w......

Alcohol & drug policies

An employer should provide employees with the highest level of protection from risks, as is reasonably practicable. Dangerous behaviour resu......

Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine (meth) is one of a number of amphetamine-type drugs. Some have medical uses and are made by pharmaceutical companies....

MDMA

Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a chemical stimulant and the active ingredient in ecstasy....

Resources

We can send you resources about healthy approaches to alcohol and other drugs....

US Elections bring big win on cannabis ballots

Amidst the media storm about the election of Donald Trump to President of the United States it was easy to miss the other big news on 8 Nove......

Responding in a crisis

Helping a loved one who shows up needing help...

Contact

Help is available

Whakawātea te Huarahi - A model drug law to 2020

News, Media & Events

Read all the latest news, media releases and event notices/ reports from the NZ Drug Foundation....

Shifting to drug law that works for Māori: Kaikohe Hui Report

Concerns at worrying levels of drug use within some communities in Northland underpinned calls for action at a hui run by the Drug Foundatio......

Use of alcohol & drugs

Problems with substances start early - half of all New Zealanders with a substance dependence issue were already dependent by the time they ......

Drug testing

It is important for employers and employees to understand their rights, responsibilities, and facts when it comes to drug testing....

Drug Foundation supports Minister's drug policy process

The Drug Foundation welcomed drug policy minister Jim Anderton’s announcement today to consult with the wider community before changing the ......

Cannabis

Cannabis is a preparation of the Cannabis Sativa plant that is used as a drug and medicine....

Videos resources

These short videos were created to help people have conversations with young people about alcohol and other drugs....

Drink driving drop good news

The New Zealand Drug Foundation supports the Government’s move to lower the allowable blood alcohol limit from 80 to 50 milligrams of alcoho......

Subscribe

This is the place to sign-up to regular updates from the Drug Foundation, sent by email. Be informed, sign-up!...

2nd International Symposium on Drugs and Driving

The 2nd International Symposium on Drugs and Driving was hosted in Wellington to confront the challenges of responding to drug impaired driv......

Honest alcohol and drug tools to help Kiwi teenagers

If you're regularly talking with teenagers and young people, it can be difficult knowing what to tell them about drugs. It's important to re......

2015 in review

At the 2015 Annual General Meeting we looked back at the Drug Foundation’s work over the last twelve months, and ahead to the big challenges......

Change is in the air at CND in Vienna, c 2015

This short report outlines key themes from the meeting of parties to the United Nations Convention on Narcotic Drugs, in Vienna 9-17 March 2......

Not what the doctor ordered

A full understanding of the seriousness of our prescription drug misuse problem is only now beginning to emerge. It seems the 'drug seeker' ......

What to do with 'high' school students

For many teenagers, alcohol and other drugs are part of everyday life. But is kicking drug taking kids out of school the best solution we've......

The drug classification alphabet

An un-evidence-based mess...

Let's talk about pot: Black Market forces

At $1 billion, New Zealand's cannabis black market would equate to one quarter the size of New Zealand's entire legal horticulture industry.......

After 'The Wire'

Popular TV show The Wire is a disturbingly realistic portrayal of an American city ravaged by violence, corruption and a thriving drugs trad......

Into my arms: Injecting drug use in New Zealand

Chris Wilkins and Charles Henderson compare findings on injecting drug use behaviour from the Illicit Drug Monitoring System and Needle Exch......

Psychoactive Substances Bill welcomed

The New Zealand Drug Foundation welcomes the introduction of the Psychoactive Substances Bill, New Zealand Drug Foundation Executive Directo......

Kiwis excited to experience a month off alcohol

Starting this Sunday, New Zealanders from around the country are taking part in FebFast, an annual fundraising campaign that challenges part......

Drug Use in NZ

The basic facts about what drugs are available and regularly used in New Zealand....

Through the maze - healthy drug law reform

The Law Commission's review of the Misuse of Drugs Act cannot come soon enough. The Drug Foundation has some ideas about how a new Act shoul......

More cool to stay at school

Schools often believe they have no other option but to suspend students using alcohol or drugs, even though exclusion will only make the sit......

Sport under the influence

Alcohol industry sponsorship has been a goldmine for sport in New Zealand, so much so that many clubs say they couldn't survive without it. ......

War and Drugs

Today, more than ever, armies around the world are dealing with serious substance abuse problems and the mental health issues that result. N......

Smoking bans in prisons - do they work?

Midway through next year, there will be a ban on smoking behind bars, but there is considerable debate over how effective this will be and o......

Guest editorial: Compulsory treatment Dutch style

Treatment boss Robert Steenhuisen takes a firsthand look at a compulsory treatment facility in the Netherlands and makes some comparisions w......

We're on your side

The death of a close friend made Black Power member Denis O'Reilly re-evaluate his own methamphetamine use. This is the story of one man's f......

Knowledge of and attitudes to illegal drugs

Last year, the Ministry of Health published a report on what kiwis know and think about illegal drugs. Not all the findings were predictable......

Drug law reform - A global snapshot

In light of the Law Commission's review Sanji Gunasekara looks at recent efforts in other jurisdictions to reform drug law....

Needle exchange comes of age

Neeedle exchange New Zealand has come a long way since its humble and controversial beginning. It's now turned 21, and congratulations are i......

East Coast community action

A number of CAYAD initiatives are helping East Coast youth to get on with it, instead of just getting out of it....

Reducing drug harm in Fiji

Fiji may be an island paradise, but like any other country, it has its fair share of drug-related woes. Jacob Quinn looks at some local harm......

Wet in Wellington

Rob Zorn talks to Downtown Community Ministry about the plight of Wellington’s addicted and homeless and why the principle of ‘housing first......