Enlightenment at the end of the maze

We should have known Without warning Tūhoetanga Enlightenment at the end of the maze Public mood swing: Have Asia’s brutal drug wars hit a nerve? On addiction and the politics of compassion Revenge of the Hastings Incubus Drivers of change Cannabis causes 32 deaths each year in New Zealand... Really? Cheese, chocolate, watches - and heroin-assisted treatment The right message: Engaging teens and young people Q&A: Lizzie Marvelly

Our Through the Maze symposium in July was a starting point for change. Bringing together world-leading drug policy experts with an enthusiastic crowd of community advocates, policy makers, politicians, clinicians and social justice activists under Parliament’s democratic roof caused a real stir.

The discussion was vigorous and questions were many. By the end of two days under the Beehive’s staggered roof, there was a palpable sense of optimism that change is imminently possible. Even if people didn’t reach a neat agreement on what this may look like, there was much common ground to continue building on.

The Drug Foundation sends out a big thank you to our host Associate Health Minister Hon. Peter Dunne, the stellar line-up of speakers and panellists and everyone who joined in, both in person and via the trending #drugmaze17 tag. A special thanks to our fabulous chairperson Alison Mau and media partner The Spinoff.

All the speakers’ presentations are available on our You Tube channel, while The Spinoff has published a great selection of articles and videos on thespinoff.co.nz. Or we've collected all the news coverage here.