The New Zealand Drug Foundation (NZDF) was established in 1989 as an independent charitable trust focused on reducing and preventing the harms caused by both illicit and licit drugs in New Zealand. It was created in response to growing concerns about the incidence of illicit drug use and drug-related harm and the inadequacy of punitive approaches at resolving the problem. The Foundation advocates for health-based drug policies, such as decriminalisation, increased access to treatment, harm reduction education, and practical services like drug checking at festivals and in the community.
While the Foundation actively contributes to policy debates on reducing drug related harm, its effectiveness is limited. Rates of illicit substance use in New Zealand are currently amongst the highest in the world, [1] causing up to three deaths from overdose every week. [2] Since the Foundation has been operating, methamphetamine use has escalated dramatically leading to increased public and political concern that its use is out of control. Between 2023 and 2024, wastewater testing indicated a 96% increase in meth consumption. [3]
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to reducing drug related harm is the legal framework operating in New Zealand. The New Zealand Medical Journal notes that the criminalisation of drugs is ineffective, harmful, and inequitable, and that "on-going substance use remains a significant problem in New Zealand". [4] In 2020, a referendum was held to decriminalise cannabis. Although the Foundation actively supported a 'Yes' vote, the public narrowly voted against it. So although the Foundation supports the decriminalising of drugs for personal use as a harm reduction strategy, its impact is limited by the public and government's apparent unwillingness to adopt such an approach.
The effectiveness of the Foundation is also limited by its narrow focus on harm reduction strategies to the exclusion of abstinence-based programmes such as the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court (AODTC), which is the most effective evidenced-based intervention available in New Zealand. The AODTC reduces reoffending of drug court graduates by 86% and helps keep them out of prison, thereby reducing their personal harm as well as the harm to society caused by drug addicted recidivist offenders.
The Foundation says its mission is "To transform the way Aotearoa New Zealand addresses drug issues" and that its vision is to make New Zealand free from drug harm. [5] To achieve this vision NZDF says it will:
The growth of recreational drug use, and in particular the increased use of methamphetamine since the Foundation was established, suggests the NZDF struggles to make much impact. During the 1990s shortly after the Foundation was established, cannabis was the most preferred recreational drug in New Zealand. In 1993, 43% of youth and adults between the age of 15 and 45 had tried it. Only 8% had tried hallucinogens, while less than 5% had tried stimulants, opiates, or tranquilizers. [6] Methamphetamine ('P'), mostly manufactured locally using pseudoephedrine, began to appear in the late 1990s. [7]
In the 2000s, cannabis remained popular but there was a rise in the use of methamphetamine, ecstasy (MDMA), and hallucinogens, with new waves of substances entering the market at summer festivals and parties. 'Party pills such as BZP, and TFMPP became popular but were eventually banned due to adverse reactions. In the early 2000s, use of methamphetamine spread beyond drug using subcultures to become a mainstream social problem, with growing law enforcement attention and rising hospital admissions. [8]
Doubling of methamphetamine use: Since then, methamphetamine has become the central feature of New Zealand's illicit drug landscape. In 2024, wastewater testing showed a 96% increase in its use nationwide over the amount consumed the previous year. [9] This has lead to major policy responses, law enforcement efforts, and public health initiatives primarily targetting large-scale import networks. [10] The associated health, criminal justice, and social costs add tens of millions to government spending every month, while the ripple effects of methamphetamine addiction cause increasing levels of harm to individuals, their families, workplaces, and entire communities. [3]
NZDF response: With its narrow focus on harm reduction, the NZDF has been unable to exert any influence over what has been described as "a serious and rapidly escalating public health crisis." Executive Director of the Foundation, Sarah Helm, suggests "a much larger investment in addiction treatment" is needed and "an extension of Te Ara Oranga", the methamphetamine harm reduction initiative that was trialled in Northland. [11] However, in December 2024, Northland had the highest consumption of methamphetamine in the entire country, suggesting Te Ara Oranga has had little, if any impact. [12]
Drug harm refers to the direct physical, psychological, and social health damage caused by drug use itself. This includes health problems like addiction, brain and organ damage, overdose, mental health disorders, infectious diseases caused by dirty needles, and the broader social impacts on users and those around them such as family harm or neonatal effects from drug use in pregnancy. In other words, the concept of drug harm focuses on the consequences stemming from the substance's effect on the individual's body and mind and on others directly exposed to the drug user. However, the Foundation's definition specifies that harm reduction does not require addicts to actually stop or even reduce their use. [13]
The concept does not include the broader impact on society stemming from drug related crime or government responses to crime. Not does it include the cost of health and addiction treatment services provided in response to the impact of drug use on society. [14]
New Zealand published a Drug Harm Index for the first time in 2008. [15] It distinguishes between personal harm to the user and harm caused to the community by the use of drugs. The Drug Foundation focuses on reducing personal harms, which includes the problems described above plus the impact on addicts' employment, housing, education, finances, and so on.
Harm to the community mostly stems from drug-related crime, which impacts the police, the courts, and prisons. The community is also impacted because of the significant need for funding and resources to provide addiction treatment. Although the Foundation recommends policies that may reduce drug-related crime, it does so with the intention of reducing harm to individual users rather than to benefit society per se.
Financial impact: The Drug Harm Index in 2023 found: [16]
Inadeqate funding for treatment: In 2025 the government allocated $2.6 billion to mental health services and addiction treatment combined. However, only 9% of that ($235 million), is ring-fenced for addiction treatment – even though 25% of those presenting with mental health issues have problems with addiction. [22]
In 2024, the Foundation said funding for addiction treatment and drug support services needs to be doubled due to chronic understaffing and insufficient service coverage. [23] The Foundation points out that the Government spends more than four times as much on drug law enforcement as it does on treatment or other health-based approaches.” [24]
The Foundation advocates for a range of harm reduction proposals, including drug checking services, promoting decriminalisation and health-led approaches for low-level drug possession, improving information sharing and education on drug harms, and supporting safer drug use practices with culturally appropriate interventions for communities like Māori. Unfortunately, the impact of these education campaigns is minimal, largely because most services are only offered to people at the most extreme end of the spectrum of harm, and only after this harm has occurred for several years. [25]
Tūturu: The Tūturu Service in New Zealand was co-created and developed through a partnership led by the New Zealand Drug Foundation, in collaboration with eleven New Zealand secondary schools, five alcohol and other drug services, and a network of health and education experts. It focuses on student wellbeing, alcohol and drug education, and broader health support through a systems approach in schools. [26]
Drug Checking: the Foundation pioneered drug checking services, which were legalized in 2021. These services allow users to have pills tested to see what's in them. This help reduce deaths and hospitalisations from contaminated substances at festivals and in communities. [27]
Decriminalization of cannabis: The Foundation unsuccessfully advocated for a 'Yes' vote in the 2020 New Zealand cannabis referendum in support of legalising and regulating recreational cannabis. [28]
Te Ara Oranga methamphetamine programme: Te Ara Oranga was a cross-agency initiative involving the police, health providers and other community organisations. It was established in Northland in 2017 in response to the growing epidemic of meth use in the area. Although, the Ministry's evaluation claimed it reduced reoffending associated with methamphetamine by 34%, those referred to the programme were not heavy users. The evaluation stated that the most common individuals referred by the Police were female, 30 years old, and were not referred because of criminal offending. [29]
National Drug Policy: The 2015–2020 National Drug Policy and its successors have incorporated some harm reduction principles advocated by NZDF, primarily viewing drug use as a health and social issue rather than primarily a criminal justice matter. [30] As part of its approach, the Foundation proposes replacing the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 with a public health approach, focusing on health-based responses to drug use rather than punishment.
However, while law changes and policy discourse acknowledge the need for a shift toward health approaches, in practice, the criminal justice system is still New Zealand's primary mechanism for dealing with illicit drug use. Significant barriers also still exist preventing drug users from access to timely treatment and support. The Foundation acknowledges that achieving a more balanced, health-focused approach requires significant cultural and systemic changes in policing, judicial practice, and addiction support services, including expanded capacity for treatment and detoxification. [31]
The main strategies used by New Zealand governments to combat illicit drug use include a combination of supply control, harm reduction, and strong border enforcement. To the extent that these measures reduce the availability of illicit drugs in the community, that automatically reduces harm – both to individuals and to society.
Border control: The New Zealand Customs Service's total budget for border control and related services in the 2025/26 fiscal year was approximately $345 million. Of this about $131 million is allocated for services related to goods crossing borders, including trade compliance and preventing illegal or prohibited items, especially illicit drugs, from entering the country. [32]
Control of distribution: The Police are primarily responsible for controlling the supply and distribution of illicts drugs within New Zealand. In 2025, Police were allocated over $971 million for criminal investigations and prosecutions, which includes drug enforcement activities. [33]
Demand reduction: The Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 has since been the primary legal framework for controlling the use of narcotics and other psychoactive substances. The Act makes it an offence to use, possess, cultivate, or traffic illegal drugs. Penalties vary depending on the class of the drug and the activity, with trafficking considered very serious and attracting severe penalties. [34]
Deterrence: The classification system under the Act was intended to deter drug use by associating significant legal risks with harder drug use. However, this has not deterred use in practice – primarily because addiction is a chronic brain disease that alters decision-making and prioritizes immediate gratification – making addicts largely unresponsive to threats of punishment. [35] [36]
In 2012, the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court (AODTC) was established in Auckland. This is a specialist court which reduces personal and social harm by targeting criminal offending driven by alcohol and drug addiction. There are now three such specialised courts, in Auckland, Waitākere and Hamilton. They offer recidivist offenders with addictions the opportunity to attend treatment in the community instead of being sentenced to prison. [37] The pilot was evaluated extensively over the next five years, and the Ministry of Justice concluded it reduced reoffending of graduates by 86%.
In 2017, Andrew Little who became Minister of Justice, said drug courts would be “rolled out across New Zealand in 2018”. [38] The AODTC was made permanent in 2019, and in 2021, a new drug court was established in Hamilton.
Lack of support:
The AODTC is the most effective, evidenced based strategy currently available in New Zealand at reducing the harm associated with alcohol and drug related crime.
Needle exchange programme: The New Zealand Needle Exchange Programme (NZNEP) was established in 1988, prior to the establihment of the Drug Foundation. The initiative was a response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and aimed to protect vulnerable populations from blood-borne viruses by providing sterile injecting equipment and harm reduction advice. The programme was driven by activists from the injecting, drug-using community who wanted to create a safe injecting programme. Support also came from pharmacists in Christchurch and Auckland who supplied injecting equipment. It was funded by the Ministry of Health, and became the first state-funded national needle exchange program in the world. [40]