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Untouchable?

Thirty-seven years into the War on Drugs, the 2012 United Nations World Drug Report says the rate of reported cannabis use in Oceania (essen......

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......

Moving to a healthy drug law by 2020

NZ Drug Foundation has developed a new model drug law based on evidence and experience. We believe it makes a lot of sense and would go a lo......

Getting the measure of meth

With a host of agencies diligently working together to tackle New Zealand’s meth problem over the last six years, it’s timely to ask how thi......

Hopes dashed and raised in NYC

After a big build up, the UN's global drug talks took place in April, with mixed results. Russell Brown was there....

Oh, Vienna!

For some, the 57th Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna this year was disappointing. For others, there were glimmers of hope....

Alcohol & drug policies

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

The world watches

To legalise, or not to legalise: that is the question. Colorado, Washington and Uruguay have decided to go ahead with allowing the recreatio......

Viewpoints: Should cannabis be on WADA's banned substances list?

In our second segment looking objectively at both sides of a contentious issue, we consider whether dope-smoking athletes should be diciplin......

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The Misuse of Drugs Act is outdated.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....

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......

Drug Use and Criminal Justice

Latest figures: New Zealand is still arresting, charging and convicting thousands of people every year for drug-related offences....

Mythbusters: How attractive is the Swedish model?

A 'drug-free society' is an attractive proposition, and one pursued with vigor under Sweden's drug policy. Mythbusters sizes up the model to......

Opinion: Drugs and Development: The Real Threat

Ann Fordham argues that the UN may be its own worst enemy in addressing global drug and crime links....

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......

USA drug policy in the early days of Trump

We’re just a few months into the new Trump-led America, and while some of his initial appointments are troubling, there’s no clear indicatio......

International drug reform is happening – just not as we expected

Reform of international drug policy seems inevitable, but questions remain. “How broad will the reforms be and how long before a new stable ......

Whole School Approach

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

Opinion: A brave, new drug policy

The National Drug Policy 2015-2020 is finally out. How does it stack up? Drug Foundation Principal Policy Advisor Andrew Zielinski looks at ......

Policy & Advocacy

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

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......

Are you old enough?

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

Local Alcohol Policies: Has the new Act delivered?

Local Alcohol Policies promised more community participation. Has the new Act delivered?...

Q&A: Kofi Annan

United Nations Secretary-General and a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Kofi Annan took time to answer questions from Matters of Substance a......

Opinion: Dear Politicians: drug policy matters in election year

In this message to New Zealand politicians, Kali Mercier, the Drug Foundation’s Senior Advocacy and Policy Adviser, explains why drug law re......

Values-based politics and drug law reform

In his recent book The New Zealand Project, Max Harris proposes transforming our political process so that it is based on values and focused......

Drivers of change

What hope is there that this is the direction law makers will take in our new Parliament? Emma Espiner examines the prospects....

About a drug: Khat

Across the Horn of Africa, there is a scraggly plant that grows in the dry hillsides and sandy rocky soils. Its small green leaves and avera......

Mythbusters: Drugs are legal in Portugal

After massively reforming its drug policy at the turn of the century, Portugal stands as a global leader of evidencebased policy grounded on......

Q&A: Greg O'Connor

Greg O'Connor has seen a lot of change since he was elected President of the NZ Police Association....

Corrections must do more to reduce Māori reoffending

The Waitangi Tribunal’s (Wai 2540) Tu¯ Mai te Rangi! report says the Crown has breached its Treaty of Waitangi obligations by failing to add......

Q&A: Beau Kilmer

Before Beau Kilmer gave a keynote address at the Australasian Drug and Alcohol Strategy Conference in Brisbane, we invited the RAND Corporat......

State of the Nation 2018

The Drug Foundation’s State of the Nation report is a snapshot of how New Zealand is dealing with alcohol and other drugs. . The 2018 repor......

Q&A: Chlöe Swarbrick

Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick speaks to Q&A about her reaction to the medicinal cannabis bill, and what life is like as a new MP...

Q&A: A UK Liberal Democrat talks drug policy

Just after his resignation as Minister of State for the Home Office responsible for the drugs portfolio in November 2014, British MP Norman ......

Medical cannabis report disappointing

A report on medical cannabis published yesterday by the Health Select Committee is a disappointing once-over glance at a medicine that is of......

Submissions on e-cigs and drug utensils

In September the Drug Foundation made submissions on two Ministry of Health consultation documents: Policy Options for the Regulation of Ele......

Review of Drug Utensils Regulation - submit now!

The Ministry of Health has recently taken an important initial step in addressing one of five priority areas of the National Drug Policy (ND......

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......

New drug policy needed to prevent young New Zealanders dying

A report released today about the deaths of young New Zealanders from poisoning shows the need for a new drug policy, the New Zealand Drug F......

Alcohol Reform Bill: “Meh”

The passing of the Alcohol Reform Bill into law today was met with a resounding “meh” by the New Zealand Drug Foundation....

Longer hours, more harm

The Government can still change the Alcohol Reform Bill to address harm caused by long trading hours of alcohol retailers, the New Zealand D......

Drug policy symposium an unprecedented event

Organisers are calling this week’s Healthy Drug Law Symposium the most significant drug policy discussion in New Zealand’s history....

Drug Policy Roundtable challenged to avoid rhetoric and ignorance

Significant harm reduction to the people of New Zealand or simplistic political rhetoric. Those were presented as the alternatives to attend......

Experts to debate New Zealand drug laws

Drug policy makers, health professionals and politicians meet in Wellington next week to discuss the future of New Zealand's drug laws and p......

Alcohol review over promises, under delivers

The Drug Foundation today described the government’s alcohol policy proposals as feeble, saying they are a soft political response to a seri......

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 ......

High time for good drug policy

The New Zealand Drug Foundation today called for all political parties to stop treating drug issues as a publicity platform and instead deve......

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 ......

Medicinal cannabis oral submissions webinar

Webinar: Tips and advice on how to give an oral submission...

Strong justification to rein in meth testing industry

Regulations to rein in meth testing industry announced, following report from Govt's chief science advisor...

Opinion: Meth myth was allowed to go on for too long

Executive Director Ross says much suffering would have been avoided if run away methamphetamine testing had been tackled sooner....

Mental Health & Addictions: NZ knows the solutions

New Zealand knows what to do: Our submission to the Mental Health & Addictions Inquiry...

Legalising cannabis in Canada is good for public health

Canada’s decision to legalise and regulate cannabis is a public health win, and something the NZ government should look to emulate....

First Nations’ position in Canada’s new cannabis frontier

As Canada prepares to roll out its legal marijuana legislation this summer, indigenous communities are concerned about how much autonomy the......

Don't delay acting on synthetic cannabinoids

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

International Indigenous Drug Policy Network Launched

An new international indigenous network for drug law reform was launched on 27 November at Healing Our Spirit Worldwide – The Eighth Gatheri......

New report highlights drug policy trends

A new State of the Nation report we released in January 2019 shows that while we are doing well in some areas, there is massive room for imp......

What we do

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

2011 Through the maze: making treatment better symposium

Experts from around New Zealand, and from overseas, gathered in Wellington on Tuesday 30 August for a Drug Policy Symposium organised by NZ ......

2013 International Drug Policy Symposium. Through the maze: Cannabis and Health

Through the Maze: Cannabis and Health International Drug Policy Symposium brought together some of the best minds about cannabis and health ......

Drug Foundation backs medical cannabis

The New Zealand Drug Foundation today released its policy on medicinal cannabis, supporting the medical use of cannabis under a trial regime......

New GCDP report, feat. Rt Hon Helen Clark    

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

2009 Through the maze: healthy drug law, international drug policy symposium

The Through the Maze: Healthy Drug Law symposium was held in Wellington to discuss a number of drug-related local issues, including the revi......

2017 Symposium Speaker Biographies

Detailed on this page are the biographies for the speakers at the 2017 Through the maze symposium....

2017 Parliamentary Drug Law Symposium

Read about what happened at Through the maze: Healthy drug law parliamentary symposium, 5-6 July 2017....

UNGASS 2016 - as it happened

The biggest global conversation on drug policy in the last 15 years was run by the United Nations in New York City 19-20 April 2016....

International symposium to address fake pot

Questions about what exactly is synthetic cannabis and the latest research on pot imitations will be addressed at the New Zealand Drug Found......

The Great Cannabis Debate

Two heavyweight international drug policy experts will be debating whether a legalised market for cannabis is the best option to reduce harm......

Enlightenment at the end of the maze

Our Through the Maze symposium in July was a starting point for change....

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......

Let's talk about pot

Drug Policy Briefing to the Incoming Parliament 2014

The Briefing to the Incoming Parliament (BIP), a policy brief prepared by the Drug Foundation for all parliamentarians, was publicly release......

It’s high time we talk about pot

Bud, chronic, dak, dope, ganja, grass, maryjane, reefer and skunk. We all know the slang terms for cannabis. Half of us have tried it, and o......

Muddled thinking behind drug policy criticism

Wellington coroner Garry Evans has ignored best practice and a wealth of international evidence in his criticism of New Zealand’s harm-minim......

Drug treatment policy often misguided says criminology professor

Overcoming problem drug use has much more to do with addressing socio-economic factors than physiological or psychological addiction, a Drug......

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......

Two sides of Canadian drug policy: 2018 AGM talk

Get an update on Canadian drug policy at our AGM, from leading scientist Professor Benedikt Fischer who very recently arrived in Auckland fr......

Practicing a public health approach to drugs: 2016 Speaker and Soup season

In 2016 we are finally seeing signs that public health, social support and drug policy do mix....

Indigenous drug policy at the UN

Gilbert Taurua highlights indegnous drug issues at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indegnous Issues...

Regulation: The Responsible Control of Drugs - public talk

Learn about recommendations from the Global Commission on Drug Policy in it's new report "Regulation: the responsible control opf drugs"...

Membership

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

Helen Clark joins global drug policy commission

Former Prime Minister Rt Hon Helen Clark as the 25th member of the highly respected Global Commission on Drug Policy. The appointment is a w......

Privacy & Cookies

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......

2017 Symposium Video

Watch the presentations from the 2017 Through the maze: Healthy drug law symposium....

Cannabis and health: 20 years down the track

Twenty years on from the New Zealand Drug Foundation’s first cannabis and health symposium, Professor Wayne Hall is returning to New Zealand......

Taking the lead on drug regulation

Ruth Dreifuss and Helen Clark of the Global Commission on Drug Policy speak about the responsible control of drugs...

Law & health must co-operate to reduce drug harm

A visiting British drug expert told the Healthy Drug Law Symposium in Wellington today that health and law enforcement professionals would b......

About Us

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

More of the same won't work - Sanho Tree visit report

When Sanho Tree visited Aotearoa New Zealand in February 2016 he grabbed everyone’s attention by sharing many counter-intuitive responses to......

Addiction treatment in New Zealand requires urgent change

Addiction treatment in New Zealand has been seriously underfunded for many decades, National Addiction Centre Director Professor Doug Sellma......

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......

Why the UN needs civil society

Yury Fedotov, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime writes about the important role of civil society....

Drug Foundation to host David Nutt in Wellington

The New Zealand Drug Foundation is hosting Professor David Nutt for a lunchtime presentation on ‘Drugs without the hot air: minimising the h......

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......

Drug law reform stacks up in dollar terms - new report

Cost benefit analysis undertaken by Sense Partners shows that the benefits of a package of drug law reform measures will outweight the costs......

Communities need to re-think drug attitudes

Not my family, and never my child. Tony Trimingham says that, like most people, he knew little about drug-taking and thought it wasn't somet......

Drug Foundation launches alcohol action plan

The New Zealand Drug Foundation today launched a comprehensive plan to reduce the harm that alcohol causes in New Zealand society....

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....