Election 2026: Where the parties stand on reducing drug harm

National Party (Yes): We have already substantially increased the funding going into addiction treatment and harm reduction. Earlier this year, [we] launched the first ever Action Plan to Prevent and Reduce Substance Harm, which focuses on improving access to support for people affected by addiction. The plan brings together initiatives representing almost $20 million of new investment per year into addiction services under this Government, so people can receive support no matter what stage of addiction they are in.

Labour Party (Will consider): Labour will set out our full mental health and addiction policy in our election manifesto, so there is more detail to come. Our focus is on prevention and early intervention, so people can get support before they reach crisis, alongside properly resourced specialist and acute services for those who need them.

Opportunity Party (Yes): Addiction treatment and harm reduction sit inside our ten-year Health Plan, which lifts government health funding from about 7.4% to 9% of GDP and grows primary and community care from 5.7% to 10% of Health NZ spending. We will also advocate for treatment and harm reduction to receive more emphasis in the justice and corrections system.

National Party (Will consider): National is supportive of Kaupapa Māori services by Māori, for everyone. National is committed to improving mental health and addiction outcomes for Māori through a needs-based approach that targets support to communities with the greatest need. Funding for Māori health providers has increased significantly in recent years, and we will continue to invest in services that deliver results.

Labour Party (Will consider): We believe there should be better access to specialist mental health and addiction services across the motu, particularly for Māori and youth.

Opportunity Party (Yes): Our Plan commits to stable, multi-year commissioning for kaupapa Māori and iwi-led providers, with measurable equity goals and public reporting.

National Party (Will consider): One of the actions in the Action Plan to Prevent and Reduce Substance Harm is for agencies and the National Drug Intelligence Bureau to test national emergency response preparedness for a potential mass drug harm event, to identify and address areas where our response needs improvement.

Labour Party (Will consider): Our focus is on prevention and early intervention, so people can get support before they reach crisis, alongside properly resourced specialist and acute services for those who need them.

Opportunity Party (Yes): Early warning is cheap relative to the harm it prevents, and High Alert is an existing instrument that works. We would rather fund and stabilise what already exists than build something new, on multi-year funding rather than annual bids.

National Party (Yes): An action in the plan also states we will be investing in technology to ensure continued accuracy and performance of drug checking services.

Labour Party (Will consider): Our focus is on prevention and early intervention, so people can get support before they reach crisis, alongside properly resourced specialist and acute services for those who need them.

Opportunity Party (Yes): The main gap in drug checking is reach, particularly outside the main centres. We support multi-year funding that lets providers expand into the regions at greatest risk, and allow for innovation and expanded testing for new and emerging drugs.

National Party (Unsure): We are focused on improving access to ADHD treatment as we know this can be life-changing for many people. Undiagnosed and untreated ADHD can have significant impacts on education, employment, relationships, and overall mental health. Earlier this year, a decision was made to widen prescribing rules for ADHD medicines, which was a welcome change for many New Zealanders. This decision will have, and is already having, a positive impact on many people’s lives.

Opportunity Party (Will consider): We support integrated treatment for co-occurring conditions and better access to ADHD assessment. Research priorities are best set by the Health Research Council and clinical experts rather than politicians, but this is a strong candidate. Our policy is to increase research and development spending to 2% of GDP, with a long-term plan to increase to 3%, which will enable more ADHD and addiction research.

Labour Party (Yes): Labour remains deeply committed [to] systems and support that enables all disabled communities to thrive.

Opportunity Party (Yes): Our Plan requires health services to be physically, digitally and culturally accessible, with better coordination across health, disability and education. Disabled people’s support needs should be reflected in how outcomes are measured and reported.

National Party: Yes. Exact National Party policy is still to be announced, however, we are committed to continuing disrupting international supply, sharpening enforcement and reducing demand.

Labour Party: Our focus is on prevention and early intervention, so people can get support before they reach crisis, alongside properly resourced specialist and acute services for those who need them.

Green Party: The Green Party are committed to direct interventions, including those listed here, to curb methamphetamine demand and harm. In addition, we recognise that addiction and health are multi-sector issues, with an increase in consumption happening alongside other social, employment, and housing issues. The Green Party have concrete policies in job creation, health and addiction services, housing and incomes to ensure everyone’s basic needs are met. We would also scale up Te Ara Oranga Meth Demand Reduction Programme to ensure more people across the motu can access this successful initiative.

Opportunity Party: The Opportunity Party supports a health-led response to drug use. We would also expand drug and mental health court pilots, grow community mental health and addiction services within the primary and community envelope, move community providers to multi-year contracts, and permanently recognise the peer support workforce. Methamphetamine demand is also driven by inequity, insecure housing and joblessness. Our housing, tax and economic policies target those drivers, and reducing them will reduce demand for drugs, including meth.

National Party (Will consider): We are committed to improving access to overdose reversal medications, training and information on how to prevent, recognise and respond to overdose.

Labour Party (Will consider): Our focus is on prevention and early intervention, so people can get support before they reach crisis, alongside properly resourced specialist and acute services for those who need them.

Opportunity Party (Yes): Naloxone is inexpensive, safe and effective, and Australia shows a national scheme is workable. Getting it to the people most likely to witness an overdose is the kind of low-cost, early intervention our Plan prioritises.

Labour Party (Unsure): Our focus is on prevention and early intervention, so people can get support before they reach crisis, alongside properly resourced specialist and acute services for those who need them.

Opportunity Party (Yes): We support a properly evaluated pilot. Sydney’s centre has operated for over two decades with published evaluations and recent implementation lessons have been learnt from the centre in Richmond (Melbourne); a pilot with clear outcome measures is the right way to test the model here.

National Party (Unsure): National Party opposed this bill at first reading but have said we will give it due consideration if it progresses further.

Opportunity Party (Yes): Nobody should hesitate to call 111 because they fear prosecution. This is consistent with our position that personal possession is a health issue, not a criminal one.

Labour Party (Will consider): Labour’s Tangi Utikere has a member’s bill which amends [the] Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act. The bill gives second chances when someone has served their sentence and lived a law-abiding life for a decade, their past should no longer be the first thing an employer sees. Those eligible under this bill include “Category 2” offences, which means an offence with a maximum penalty of less than two years’ imprisonment. In practice, that covers offending such as common assault, wilful damage, disorderly behaviour, shoplifting and low-value theft, possession of cannabis for personal use, and first or second drink-driving and driving-while-disqualified offences.

Opportunity Party (Will consider): The Opportunity Party would consider decriminalising personal possession and use, while keeping offences for supply, dealing, manufacture and trafficking. Convictions create barriers to work, housing and treatment without reducing use, and having drug use be illegal creates stigma and barriers to help-seeking. We also recognise that decriminalisation only works if it occurs concurrently with greater investment in treatment, prevention, and harm reduction. Shifting to a health-based approach to drugs requires significant investment in these services to ensure that people can access services when they need them.

Labour Party (Will consider): Our focus is on prevention and early intervention, so people can get support before they reach crisis, alongside properly resourced specialist and acute services for those who need them.

Opportunity Party (Yes): Decisions on evidence-based health interventions should sit with health experts rather than waiting on a law change each time. This matches our wider approach: Parliament sets the goals and rules, and the system delivers and reports against them.

Labour Party (No): New Zealand held a referendum in 2020 and any future changes to the legal status of cannabis would need similar public input, as well as consider the impact on public health. At a time when methamphetamine use is surging and police resources are stretched thin, we’d expect prosecutors and Police [to] use their resources in a way that best promotes public safety. Prosecutors have that discretion, but it’s on the Government to set the direction and allocate resources most effectively.

Opportunity Party (Yes): We have long supported regulating cannabis under a health-focused system with controls on marketing, potency and youth access. We now have over five years of evidence from Canada about how to safely and appropriately implement a public health regulatory approach to cannabis. The lesson from tobacco and alcohol is that commercial interests must not write the rules.

Opportunity Party (Will consider): The evidence for some psychedelic-assisted therapies, particularly for PTSD, is promising but still developing. We support a clinically governed pathway through existing regulators that expands as the evidence matures. We support increasing R&D spending to at least 2% of GDP. Greater investment in health research funding through HRC will support timely and NZ-specific evidence, which can then support this goal.

Opportunity Party (Yes): Roadside testing should target impairment, which is what causes crashes, rather than presence alone. We would support bringing the review forward once reliable impairment testing is available.

Opportunity Party (Yes): The Misuse of Drugs Act is no longer fit for purpose. Its drug classes don’t reflect evidence of harm, the presumption of supply reverses the burden of proof, and the utensil rules block proven harm reduction tools. The Law Commission reached this conclusion in 2011, and successive reviews have agreed. A health-led response would likely be best achieved through a full replacement with a health-oriented law.

Opportunity Party: We do support at least reviewing the Act, and would likely support repealing it. Failing that, at minimum we should: legislate Good Samaritan protections; enable a health agency to licence evidence-based harm reduction measures; and base penalties on relative harm.