History never repeats
New Zealand’s history of drugs and the laws to control them.
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.
Where there’s smoke, there’s sugar
If there’s one thing Dirty Politics has made clear, it’s that astroturfing (masking who’s really behind the message) is alive and well in New Zealand. Keith Ng reports.
Most people with addiction simply grow out of it: why is this widely denied?
The idea that addiction is a chronic, progressive disease that requires treatment doesn't hold up to the evidence. Maia Szalavitz.argues the ‘ageing out’ experience of the majority is ignored by treatment providers and journalists.
A remarkable lifetime achievement
Tihi Puanaki – a driving force behind award-winning kapa haka group Te Kotahitanga for more than four decades – has just won a Lifetime Achievement award at this year’s Pride of NZ Awards.
Our ‘psycho’ psychoactive substances legislation
New Zealand’s Psychoactive Substances Act has been described as world leading. But in 2014, public moral apoplexy and political disquiet resulted in a reversal of what the legislation was designed to achieve.