The NZ Drug Foundation is concerned that an increased number of deaths and hospitalisations from stimulant drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine may continue to rise.
The foundation has released a new report “Drug overdoses in Aotearoa 2025” which tracked overdose deaths between 2016–2024 using coronial data.
Drug Foundation executive director Sarah Helm said that while the increase in stimulant harm was expected given a sharp uptick in cocaine and methamphetamine use, it was a worrying trend nonetheless.
The increase in cocaine use I predicted years ago. This was based on cartels looking for new markets and setting up shop in the Pacific.
“Given what we know about the sustained higher levels of methamphetamine consumption, we fear that this may only be the beginning of a serious spike in hospitalisations and deaths from stimulants.”
[…] The report also showed an increase in deaths from novel substances, with nitazenes (a family of potent synthetic opioids) and bromazolam (a novel black-market benzodiazepine) appearing in official drug death data for the first time.
[…] Helm said that mixing drugs continued to be the biggest driver of fatal overdoses.
Especially if mixed with alcohol.
[…] Overall, fatal overdoses decreased slightly in 2024 based on provisional data, with 148 deaths in contrast to 177 in 2023.
But Helm said that the number of deaths was still unacceptably high and not enough was being done to bring it down.
“We are losing almost three New Zealanders every week to preventable overdose – twice the number of people we lose to drowning. That’s hundreds of families and loved ones suffering unimaginable grief.”
Helm said the current system was woefully ill-equipped and underfunded to both prevent and respond to harm and a comprehensive overdose prevention plan for New Zealand was needed.
The report also called for a ‘Good Samaritan’ law that would remove criminal penalties for people calling for help in the event of an overdose, improved access to the opioid overdose reversal medication naloxone, overdose prevention and response services, and a national overdose surveillance system to enable better real-time monitoring.
Of course the report will be ignored by the government, as is any call to overhaul drug laws.
One of the stated purposes of the Misuse of Drugs Act is to get users into the system where supposedly they can get help, etc, etc.
The problem with that is that only around 15 per cent of instances of drug use causes problems. That means most of times that police arrest someone for smoking a joint and bring them in front of judge, it’s a complete waste of time. And remember, it’s your tax money paying for all this.
And then you have the opposite where the police ignore blatant examples of problematic drug use – such as public drug use where the user clearly has a problem.
As for decriminalisation, that requires a strong health support system, as we’ve seen in Portugal: once the health funding started getting cut, overdoses started going up again.
Here’s another key fact: after every major drug bust, overdoses go up.
You might say, ‘If you’re going to take drugs, then whatever happens is your fault.’ The thing is, nobody deserves the death penalty for making a stupid decision, and it’s often because of increased purity or adulteration.
