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.
A court that heals
Offenders opting to come under New Zealand’s first Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court choose a stretch of healing, rather than jail time. It’s hard work for everyone, but it’s paying off. Keri Welham visits the Alcohol and Other Drug Tr
Nov 1 2014
Drug Policy Briefing to the Incoming Parliament 2014
The Briefing to the Incoming Parliament (BIP), a policy brief prepared by the Drug Foundation for all parliamentarians, was publicly released 8 December 2014.