Do you know the racist origins of New Zealand’s drug laws? The 1901 Opium Prohibition Act, banned use only by Chinese people, and Aotearoa’s first alcohol law banned use only by Maori.
Such misuse of drugs laws continues to this day, with the law applied unfairly, unevenly, and with no regard to actually helping those the law claims to protect.
The 1972-3 Blake Palmer Committee which reviewed the previous disastrous law, the 1965 Narcotics Act which saw cannabis users jailed for a joint, reluctantly recommended continuing prohibition “only so long as it was seen to be working”.
They recommended a further review of the new law within 10 years (it finally happened in 2011, and was ignored).
In 1975, under urgency and on the eve of the General Election, Labour’s Misuse of Drugs Bill was passed unanimously with National’s support.
This turd of a law came into effect 1 June 1977. It created three classes (A, B and C) which supposedly reflected actual harms but were actually a reflection of moral viewpoints on various substances (the hippy drug LSD was made Class A while methamphetamine was Class B). Among other legal misuse, the Misuse of Drugs Act breaches the normal burden of proof, so that the accused must prove their innocence rather than the prosecution proving guilt, and also allows police to conduct warrantless search powers, breaching the Bill of Rights and common law.
Within twenty years, this criminal heavy handedness saw 30,000 people arrested every year during the 1990s, yet use continued to rise anyway with over half of adults admitting they had tried it.
The law, clearly, was a spectacular failure. In 2011 the Law Commission released their review of MoDA, “Controlling and Regulating Drugs”, which recommended repealing and replacing it with a new law fit for purpose. This included the controlled availability of low risk drugs such as cannabis. It was eventually dismissed by the John Key government as “inconsistent with the official drug policy adopted in New Zealand.”
So, what now and what do we want?
A new act fit for purpose and focused on harm reduction. The new law should include alcohol, tobacco & psychoactives. It is imperative that any new legislation or policy has input by those with lived experience (“Nothing about us without us”).
Our drug law should recognise – as NORML’s campaign slogan has said since 2013 – that cannabis is safer than both alcohol and most other commonly used substances or even everyday activities such as riding a bike or swimming at the beach.
On Thursday 9 October 2025, the NZ Drug Foundation launched a report at Parliament named “Safer Drug Laws for Aotearoa”. The evidence-based recommendations are:
1) Decriminalise the use and possession of all drugs, like in Portugal;
2) Redirect resources to health in an equitable way;
3) Establish harm reduction as responsive public health infrastructure. Take the politics and politicians out of every decision. A new agency would be in charge of regulating harm reduction initiatives such as substance checking, approving safer utensils and licensing psychedelic therapies;
4) Establish responsible regulation of lower-harm substances. For cannabis that includes legalising home growing, and non-profit Cannabis Social Clubs like they have in Malta, Germany, Spain and Uruguay.
5) Uphold Te Tiriti and protect taonga. Māori-led solutions with ring-fenced funding.
The report was presented to the Cross Party Group on Mental Health & Addiction. This is chaired by Kahurangi Carter (Greens), with Ingrid Leary (Labour) the deputy. Other members represent all the parties in parliament: Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke (Ti Pati Maori), Vanessa Weenick (National), Laura McClure (Act), Tanya Unkovich (NZ First). The very existence of this cross party group should give us all hoipe that rational discussion can occur and change is possible. You can help by expressing your support to group members and ask them to lobby they caucuses.
Wed 5 November: Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa presents a free symposium on 50 Years Of MoDA at Victoria University. Featuring former Law Commissioner Warren Young and exploring what impact, and what next? They quote Curious author Christine Dent: “We don’t get the choice of whether drugs are sold. We get to decide who sells them.”
Sat 6 December: NORML presents J Day – show your support for law reform by coming to New Zealand’s longest running protest! Fun fact, J Day was established in 1994 when MoDA was only 19 years old. Let’s do all we can to ensure no more Crappy Birthdays for this misuse of a drugs law.