Our Through the Maze symposium in July was a starting point for change. Bringing together world-leading drug policy experts with an enthusiastic crowd of community advocates, policy makers, politicians, clinicians and social justice activists under Parliament’s democratic roof caused a real stir.
The discussion was vigorous and questions were many. By the end of two days under the Beehive’s staggered roof, there was a palpable sense of optimism that change is imminently possible. Even if people didn’t reach a neat agreement on what this may look like, there was much common ground to continue building on.
The Drug Foundation sends out a big thank you to our host Associate Health Minister Hon. Peter Dunne, the stellar line-up of speakers and panellists and everyone who joined in, both in person and via the trending #drugmaze17 tag. A special thanks to our fabulous chairperson Alison Mau and media partner The Spinoff.
All the speakers’ presentations are available on our You Tube channel, while The Spinoff has published a great selection of articles and videos on thespinoff.co.nz. Or we've collected all the news coverage here.
New Zealand is losing three people a week to preventable overdose, while hospitalisations from stimulants like methamphetamine and cocaine are increasing alongside a recent surge in consumption.
Our annual report compiling coronial and hospitalisation data.
There is common ground among parties on reducing drug harms and supporting addiction treatment, suggesting progress can be made in the next term.