Regular drug checking clinics now open in three cities of New Zealand / Aotearoa

For the first time, regular and ongoing community drug-checking clinics are now available in Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin.

A drug user in his 20s, who lives in Wellington, is looking forward to visiting the new clinic. He prefers to get his drugs checked because he said it’s quite common for dealers to bulk out drugs with other substances in order to make more money.

"I was a little bit more relaxed knowing that what I was taking, what I spent my money on, isn't going to potentially kill me,” he said.

Last year, 1720 drugs were checked to determine what was in them. A third of those were completely or partially different from what people thought they were.

The new clinics, provided by the Needle Exchange Services Trust, are part of a nearly four-million-dollar government investment towards the cost of delivering drug-checking services and harm reduction advice.