Safer drug laws for Aotearoa New Zealand - Pragmatic, evidence-based recommendations for safer drug laws
Our drug laws are unsafe and things will get worse if we don’t change them.
The evidence shows they have been a major driver of harm while outlawing interventions that could help
Since the Misuse of Drugs Act became law in 1975:
- Tens of thousands of people have been imprisoned
- The global drug supply has become more unpredictable and toxic
- Overdose deaths have climbed, reaching almost three per week in 2024
- Chronic drug harms like substance use disorder have risen and services are under strain
- Māori have been disproportionately affected by drug harm and the criminal justice system
We can make our drug laws safer for everyone.
In our major new report, Safer drug laws for Aotearoa New Zealand: Evidence to inform regulatory change, we examine the impact of our drug laws over the last 50 years, the perspectives of New Zealanders who have directly experienced drug harm, and evidence from countries that have reformed their drug laws.
We then put forward a suite of well-evidenced, pragmatic approaches for a safer, more responsive law.
The reforms proposed are not about liberalisation – in fact they offer the opposite: regulation, safety and control.