NZ Drug Foundation Staff
Mythbusters: It sounds too much
Estimated values of seized drugs can be mind-bogglingly huge. But are these estimates accurate reflections of the likely street value?
About a drug: Alpha-PVP
Alpha-pyrrolidinovalerophenone is one of a number of recreational drugs in the 'bath salts' (cathinones) family, so called because they resemble bath salts and have sometimes been sold disguised as such.
Q&A: Toni-Marie Matich
Toni-Marie Matich is the co-founder of the NZ branch of United in Compassion, set up to advocate for the introduction of medicinal cannabis.
Viewpoints: Should we be concerned about rising PIED use?
Use of performance and image-enhancing drugs is on the rise in NZ - that may be a cause for concern.
Mythbusters: Is cannabis really 100 times safer than alcohol?
There are many factors to consider when assessing drug-related harm. Claiming that cannabis is 114 times safer than alcohol is, like some of the data in a recent study, very uncertain.
About a drug: Dabbing and BHO
Dabbing is a relatively new way of smoking cannabis involving highly concentrated extracts known as BHO (short for either ’butane honey oil’ or ’butane hash oil’).
Q&A: Beau Kilmer
Before Beau Kilmer's keynote address at the Australasian Drug and Alcohol Strategy Conference in Brisbane, we invited the RAND Corporation researcher to visit the Drug Foundation.
About a drug: LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide (or LSD) has many street names including yellow sunshine, window pane and Microdot but it is most commonly known as acid.
About a drug: Mescaline
Mescaline is an alkaloid that causes hallucinogenic effects similar to those of LSD and psilocybin (magic mushrooms). It occurs naturally in several varieties of cactus, most notably peyote (native to Mexico) and the San Pedro cactus (nativ
Q&A: Dr John Crawshaw
Dr John Crawshaw was appointed Director and Chief Advisor of Mental Health in November 2011. As the principal advisor to the government on matters of mental health, he fulfils several key statutory functions.
Mythbusters: Poppy Seeds
You scoff a few poppy seed bagels and then take a routine workplace drug test. Is it true that your choice of lunch could put you under suspicion of having a heroin habit?
Viewpoints: Pregnancy warnings on alcohol labels
In 2011, a trans-Tasman food labelling review recommended pregnancy health warning labels on alcohol products. The primary motivation was to help address soaring rates of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder.