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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 ......

Pledge Me: Help expand drug checking

Music Festivals

Alcohol and other drugs are used at music festivals in New Zealand every Summer. While most enjoy this experience, legal and illegal substan......

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......

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 ......

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......

Keeping safer under summer skies

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

Getting the facts out is overdue

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

Tools about host responsibility and drugs in bars

Imagine you’re managing a bar, and someone tells you they just saw a guy selling MDMA in the bathroom. Or a woman who seems quite intoxicate......

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...

Drug checking: Credible, evidence-based and effective

This year, drug checking services have been more in demand than ever....

A week of firsts: Drug checking at O-Week

University O-week is about helping new students to find their feet before study begins in earnest. It's also become notorious for unruly par......

Information & Advice

We want greater support for community-based solutions to problems caused by drug use. This section contains information and advice for indiv......

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......

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Education & Schools

Supporting schools to address drug and alcohol issues, while keeping students engaged in education...

2019 Budget is a game changer

The big ambitions of the 2019 Wellbeing Budget show the government is willing to walk the talk when it comes to a fresh new approach....

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......

About Us

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

What we do

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

Statement of principles

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

Board and Management

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

Police discretion for drug offences needs greater health funding

Greater funding for health and social services is urgently needed for changes to Misuse of Drugs Act to be effective....

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....

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’......

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 ......

Privacy & Cookies

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......

Calling for submissions on the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill

Synthetic drugs have been linked to more than 65 deaths, so we are encouraging people to make a submission on the upcoming Misuse of Drugs A......

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......

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......

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......

Helping Someone

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

Responding in a crisis

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

Workplaces

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

Alcohol & drug policies

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

Drug testing

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

Drug Index

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

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 ......

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....

Cannabis

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

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......

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......

Methamphetamine

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

New campaign to help young New Zealanders Steer Clear of drug driving

A new campaign which shows young New Zealanders that cannabis can impair driving, and which supports young people to find alternatives to dr......

MDMA

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

Drug Use in NZ

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

Drug Law Reform

The Misuse of Drugs Act is outdated. It is time for modern drug law fit for the the 21st Century. The Drug Foundation is working for change....

Misuse of Drugs amendment: A temporary fix while we address the real problem

MPs are currently hearing public submissions on a potentially significant change to our drug law - the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill. Here'......

Mental health review stirs hope for change

The Government’s promised mental health and addictions review is off the starting block....

Rūātoki hui

We're hosting a hui in the Rūātoki, Eastern Bay of Plenty, on 31 August 2017 to talk about how drug law harms many Māori, and solutions to t......

Majority backs cannabis law change

A majority of the public favours a change to the legal status of cannabis according to a new poll commissioned by the NZ Drug Foundation....

Whole School Approach

To effectively ensure young people can thrive in a world where drugs exist, a Whole Schools approach is being promoted....

More Kiwi women open up about their struggles with booze

Living Sober's online community’s manager and Editor-in-Chief Lotta Dann today launched her second book, Mrs D is Going Within....

Win a copy of new memoir by Living Sober’s Editor in Chief, Mrs D

Win a copy of Mrs D is Going Within by simply retweeting or sharing a giveaway post by NZ Drug Foundation or Matua Raḵi from their Facebook ......

febfast kicks off with a bang, still time to register

febfast kicked off 28 days of booze free bliss with a bang over the weekend and there is still time to register, febfast coordinator Natalia......

febfast lite for sevens hangover

People who overdid it at the Wellington Sevens last weekend can give their livers a break for the rest of February by signing up to febfast....

Resources

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

Statement to the UN General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem

New Zealand Drug Foundation civil society statement to the plenary of the UN General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem...

Leading New Zealanders join global letter calling for end to 'drug war'

Aotearoa New Zealand Leaders Join Over 1,000 Worldwide Calling for End to "Disastrous" Drug War Ahead of UN Special Session...

Bringing the perils of drug driving to the Wellington waterfront

Visiting Wellington this week is a public education campaign which challenges drivers who think driving after smoking cannabis is okay....

Contact

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Get a hardcopy of our stunning magazine, posted to your every three months. Crammed full of news, features, commentary and more....

Membership

Join the NZ Drug Foundation. Find out about membership packages....

Help is available

Drug law harms many Māori, it's time we talked hui.

It's time to talk about drug law, and the harms it causes to Māori ensnared in the justice system because of minor drug offences. Hui in Te......

Whakawātea te Huarahi - A model drug law to 2020

Open mic for gay men to talk sex and drugs without shame

Chemsex is believed to be on the increase amongst gay men, but it can expose participants to risk. A recent event encouraged men to speak op......

Briefing to the Incoming Parliament 2017

In December 2017 all MPs were sent a comprehensive briefing setting out drug policy priorities for the next three years. Download the full r......

New approach to dealing with drug use by HNZ tenants a welcome move

The Drug Foundation welcomes the Government’s announcement that Housing New Zealand will adopt a new policy when it detects methamphetamine ......

It’s going to take more than a referendum to sort out NZ’s drugs issues

In a new policy briefing sent to MPs, the Drug Foundation lays out drug policy priorities for the next three years....

Government’s medical cannabis bill will address current barriers

The Drug Foundation welcomed the government’s announcement to establish a government-run medical cannabis scheme as part of its First 100 Da......

Model Drug Law: your feedback

Tell us what you think of the Drug Foundation's proposals for a complete overhaul of NZ's drug laws....

New GCDP report, feat. Rt Hon Helen Clark    

Helen Clark: Decriminalising drugs is the “hardest of all issues.”...

New Zealand Government must step up efforts to end the death penalty

Australian death penalty experts to visit New Zealand – Monday 21 September 2015...