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Responding in an emergency

The newness and number of synthetics mean that there are not substance-specific clinical pathways, however, general first aid helps....

Talking to people using synthetics

If someone is around people using synthetics or already using them, they need information about safer use and how to access help....

Community responses to incidents

How to set up a community response group to co-ordinate any actions relating to a synthetic drug incidents...

Synthetics

Lizi's living sober

Living Sober member Lizi Reese talks about the role alcohol played in her life and her long road to sobriety....

Keeping safer under summer skies

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

Opinion: This isn't who I was born to be

Drugs can tear families apart. So too can the laws that police them. But family can also motivate users to put their lives back together aga......

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....

Q&A: I’m Lotta. I’m an alcoholic.

Lotta Dann, the journalist wife of TVNZ political editor Corin Dann and a mother of three, has outed herself as a recovering alcoholic and r......

Respect: schools teaching critical thinking and harm reduction

Concerns were raised about a West Auckland school using a MethHelp booklet in the classroom. This was a good thing to do....

Synthetics Crisis

Over 40 people have died from synthetic drugs in the past year. We see this as a public health crisis, which requires an urgent response....

Q&A: Darien Fenton

Darien Fenton is standing down at the next election after nine years in Parliament. The outgoing Labour MP recently opened up in The New Zea......

Q&A: Russell Brand

On the tenth anniversary of his recovery, comedian Russell Brand invited Matters of Substance backstage to the final show of his Australia a......

Getting animated about drug tests

Drug testing is common practice in some industries and widely accepted as necessary, so advising people against it can seem counter-intuitiv......

New website reaches New Zealand's hidden problem drinkers

People struggling with their alcohol use now have a new online place where they can go to get help anonymously from others with similar expe......

Living Sober members report positive influence

Valuable support is offered to people giving up drinking on the Living Sober website according to a survey of members conducted late last ye......

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 ......

Removing barriers to create behaviour change

Jeff Jordon from Rescue Agency opening the conference on the topic of lowering the burdens of change when doing behaviour change marketing....

You think it’s MDMA – but is it?

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

Practical advice for homeowners and landlords on meth testing

Worried about meth contamination? Should you test for meth resudue, and what if a test comes up positive? And what does it mean for your in......

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 ......

Preview of Living Sober's new look and usability improvements

After a year of work behind the scenes, Living Sober is relaunching with a fresh new look and user experience improvements....

Information & Advice

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

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......

Press pause on booze for Feb

For the third year running, New Zealanders are being challenged to give up alcohol for the month of February to raise money to support young......

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

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

Drug Foundation urges moratorium and independent analysis of new party pills

On the eve of the BZP party pill ban, the New Zealand Drug Foundation has called for a voluntary moratorium on sales of all new non-BZP part......

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......

Urgent response to drug deaths: accurate information is vital

The NZ Drug Foundation is calling on the NZ Police to release test results for substances suspected of leading to deaths of eight people in ......

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 ......

Harsh cannabis laws defy good sense

Drug legislation and policy tend to focus too much on enforcement and tough-talk and too little on evidence about what really works, a visit......

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....

All this talk about meth

Using meth? Worried about someone else's use? We've updated our MethHelp handbook and poster, which offer practical tips without judgement....

Fast results for febfast

After 28 days of pushing pause on booze, hundreds of New Zealanders are feeling happier and healthier due to febfast, febfast coordinator Ja......

Q&A: Lizzie McMillan-Makalio

Trained social worker Lizzie McMillan-Makalio is manager of the site known as Wesley Community Action-Waitangirua, where six community servi......

Party pill ban would ignore best evidence

The New Zealand Drug Foundation today warned against heeding calls to ban BZP, the active ingredient found in many 'party pills', because su......

Alcohol select committee continues to disappoint communities

The Drug Foundation today expressed surprise that the Justice and Electoral Committee recommended only tinkering to the Alcohol Reform Bill,......

Methamphetamine in NZ

Understanding the basic facts about methamphetamine is vital as respond to problematic use....

Updated: NZ Drug Foundation website

In April 2017 the Drug Foundation launched a refreshed version of the website. Pages have been revised and added to. Feedback welcome....

Medicinal Cannabis Reform Workshops

Register for a workshop on the the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill in February/ March 2018....

Opinion: To reduce drug-related harm, it’s time to be honest about the pleasure

Acknowledging the reasons most people actually use alcohol and other drugs could help them use them more safely, argues Global Drug Survey f......

Reducing drug demand a good investment

The Drug Foundation welcomed the Government’s increased investment in reducing demand for drugs, released today in a pre-budget announcement......

Forty thousand febfast thanks

By pushing pause on booze for February hundreds of New Zealanders have helped raise over $40,000 to support young people with alcohol and ot......

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......

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......

Replace drug convictions with health referrals: Drug Foundation launches new model drug law

We're proposing a complete overhaul of New Zealand's drug laws. This is a start....

1/3 of NZ families affected by alcohol and drug problems

A third of New Zealanders have a family member who has experienced negative effects in their life due to alcohol or drug use, research commi......

Music Festivals

“The drugs just didn’t work anymore” – Drug websites put a human face on addiction

“I don’t want to go back down that road. It’s very dark, very messy, and very lonely in spite of the fact it feels so loving, and so nice, a......

Medicinal cannabis: What now?

Members of both Government and Opposition parties have let patients down by failing to reach an agreement on medicinal cannabis. So what now......

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......

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......

Opinion - Synthetic cannabis

It’s a glaring and obvious anomaly that substances like cannabis are illegal in New Zealand while “synthetic cannabis” – that has much the s......

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......

What’s going on in the smoke filled rooms?

Around the world, tobacco giants are making it known that plain packaging legislation will meet with forceful litigation in international co......

Mythbusters: One addiction at a time?

Who says people undergoing addiction treatment can't give up smoking at the same time? Mythbusters reveal new evidence and research challeng......

Methamphetamine testing reset: where are we at?

Watch: Ross Bell speaks about cleaning up after the meth myth, and read: what we think should happen from here....

Don't hesitate

Why do some people hesitate to call for help in a life-and-death situation? Elle Hunt investigates emergency responses to overdoses in New Z......

Don't delay acting on synthetic cannabinoids

Winston Peters warns Government officials to take urgent action to stop further deaths from synthetic drugs...

A defence of death

Big Tobacco has launched a massive campaign to try and stymie the New Zealand Government’s plans to follow Australia in plain packaging of t......

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....

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 ......

Kiwis join drug policy hui in Washington, November 2015

A delegation of Drug Foundation staff joined 1500 other people from 70 countries at the 2015 International Drug Policy Reform Conference, he......

Where are we at with alcohol reform?

It's been 4 years since new liquor laws passed. They were supposed to reduce problematic consumption of alcohol without impinging on respons......

Without warning

New Zealand has little in the way of a drug early warning system for emerging substances and usage trends. Rob Zorn summarises the issues an......

Underdosing naloxone

Globally, an estimated 69,000 people die each year from opioid overdose. The drug naloxone can quickly block opioid receptors in the brain a......

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' ......

Playing Russian roulette

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

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......

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......

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......

Reducing cannabis health harms

There is a wide spectrum of views on how much (or, in some cases, even whether) cannabis causes harm. Rob Zorn examines how harmful cannabis......

Are you old enough?

Rob Zorn tackles the thorny issue of how to set a legal cannabis purchase age...

To test or not to test

Drug testing in schools is rejected by some and embraced by others. So what is the score? Naomi Arnold hers from all sides of the issue....

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 ......

Taking the pulse of Māori public health

Restoring equality and addressing health outcomes for Māori come with many challenges. Matt Calman talks with four figures from the sector a......

Will they ever learn?

If a student turns up to class stoned, they might be kicked out of school. Or they might have a restorative conference with their teachers a......

Being in Relationship - Reimagining our addiction sector

Personal stories highlight the relationship between addiction and treatment....

Pounding a Helpful Beat

What would happen if Police and the justice system put less emphasis on punishing people and more on steering them towards support? Catriona......

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......

Where there is life, there is hope

Harm reduction is about saving lives and treating people with respect. While we led the world with the first government sanctioned needle ex......