Know Your Stuff NZ

TBT that time in 2021 we got the law changed so we could check people's drugs legally and people could bring us their drugs legally. Also changing the law so people coming to see us and/or their results from drug checking can't be used against them in court. No biggie, just casually changing NZ legislation. As you do 😉😘 Boop the link in our profile for a full breakdown of the Drug and Substances Checking Legislation Act 2021 😊😊

What happens when the stuff you find isn't what you thought it was and absolutely not what you wanted? You get to tip it into the Jar of Destruction, which is super satisfying. The unwanted substances are dissolved in bleach. This renders them inert until we can get rid of the bleach safely. Under festival conditions the Jar of Destruction can get pretty gnarly with the amount of destroyed samples and we basically wind up with a jar of multicoloured Cursed Goo 🤣 Tbh, we like that we get to go home with Cursed Goo. It means that you're not the ones having a cursed night 💛

Hi Wellington friends! If you're curious about what KnowYourStuffNZ does and how it all works, this one's for you. Bring us your questions about drugs, drug checking, drug law, harm reduction, or anything else drug-related. Pop by and say hi :) 💛 When: 11am - 2pm, 26th May 💛 Where: The Hub, Victoria University Kelburn Campus, Kelburn Parade. Look for the big yellow flag 😊

Hi Northland friends! We're going to be talking harm reduction at the Northland Holistic Expo in Kerikeri! If you've ever wanted to ask us about drugs, harm reduction, the law, how drug-checking works, or Lil' Pinger's origin story, now's your chance 😊 💛 When: 9am-4pm, 30th and 31st May Where: Kingston House, Hone Heke Road, Kerikeri

Hi Hamilton friends! We've got a drug checking clinic happening this week, so come and say hi 😊 💛 When: 10am - 12pm, 21 May 💛 Where: 16 Vialou Street, Hamilton Central Drug checking is free, confidential, non-judgmental, and 100% legal, so bring us your gear, settle in for some high quality harm reduction yarns, and find out what's in your stuff 💛

Hi friends! It's Mythbuster Monday 🎉🎉🎉 Over the past few weeks, we have looked at evidence showing that methamphetamine (MA) is not consistently considered the most harmful drug on the market, nor is it uniquely or consistently linked to crime. Despite this, MA remains one of the most stigmatised drugs in New Zealand. One reason for this may be the way MA has been represented in the media. Sociologists use the term 'moral panic' to describe periods where a social issue receives intense media and political attention and is framed as a major threat to society. Moral panics do not mean a problem is not real, but they can involve disproportionate coverage of extreme or unusual cases. Research analysing New Zealand media coverage between the late 1990s and mid-2000s found strong evidence of a moral panic around MA. Reporting during this period relied heavily on police sources and tough on crime perspectives, while focusing on extreme cases involving violence or severe addiction. While coverage today is less intense than during the early 2000s, MA is still often portrayed in sensationalised ways. There is still little visibility given to the many cases where taking MA does not result in extreme or violent outcomes. A similar pattern has been observed in Australia. A 2016 study analysing newspaper articles and parliamentary speeches found MA was frequently framed using crisis language such as “epidemic” and “national emergency,” despite survey data showing use remained stable or declined between 2013 and 2016. Moral panics can also influence policy decisions. In New Zealand, during the early 2000s period of moral panic, public pressure resulted in MA being reclassified from a Class B drug to a Class A drug in 2003. Moral panics can reinforce stigma toward people who take MA, which can make it harder to seek support. Furthermore, focusing primarily on extreme cases can obscure the broader social conditions that contribute to drug-related harm, such as poverty, punitive drug policies and trauma. Myth busted: methamphetamine is not the most harmful drug on the market. Boop the link in our profile for the receipts 😘

Hi friends! It's Peer Review Friday 🎉🎉🎉 Today we're looking at When Are “Paraphernalia” Critical Medical Supplies? by dela Cruz et al, published in AMA Journal of Ethics, July 2024. This week’s article is a commentary by academics from UT Southwestern Medical Centre critiquing inconsistent drug laws in America. While most states have needle exchange programmes that distribute clean needles, the distribution of needles is still illegal in some states, making it hard for people with opioid use disorders to get treatment. For instance, in Texas it is illegal for people to have fentanyl test strips and clean needles, although these are lifesaving medications. Interesting things for us are: 💛The authors suggest a medical, rather than criminal, approach to treating drug addiction. (TAUTOKO) 💛This involves giving patients fentanyl test strips and sterile needles to make their drug use safer. 💛Clinicians in states where distributing needles is outlawed are faced with a moral dilemma between helping their patients and obeying the law. 💛They emphasise that healthcare workers should inform patients about different state laws if they are travelling between states. Patients should have a prescription with them for their needles while travelling to ensure that they don’t get arrested 💛The authors advocate for changing the law in states where needle distribution is still illegal. This paper is full of takes we agree with. We're here for embracing substance use as a medical, rather than criminal issue, and making it easier to distribute harm reduction tools such as fentanyl test strips and sterile injecting kits. These are things that have been proven worldwide to reduce drug-related death, and it's just common sense to do them. The article's definitely worth a read. Boop the link in our profile and read the article 😘

Hi friends! Just a lil' yarn with Dan, our Auckland regional manager about what we do and what brought him to drug checking 🥰

Hi Wellington friends! We've got a drug checking clinic coming up at Victoria University next week, so come and say hi 😊 💛 When: 10am - 2pm, 19th May 💛 Where: The Board Room, VUWSA Student Union Building, Kelburn Campus, Kelburn Parade Drug checking is free, confidential, non-judgmental, and 100% legal, so bring us your gear, settle in for some high quality harm reduction yarns, and find out what's in your stuff 💛

Hi friends! It’s Mythbuster Monday 🎉🎉🎉 Last time we looked at why methamphetamine was considered more harmful in the NZ and Australian MCDA studies than in the UK and European ones. Today we take a closer look at the relationship between methamphetamine and crime. Methamphetamine is strongly associated with crime in NZ and Australia. However, population-level data does not show a straightforward causal relationship. Wastewater testing shows an increase in methamphetamine consumption around mid-2024. If methamphetamine directly caused crime, we might expect crime rates to increase at the same time. Yet NZ Police data shows no clear national or regional increase in crime during this period. However, Police data also has limitations. Criminologists estimate only about 23% of offences identified in the NZ Crime and Victims Survey are reported to Police. Researchers have also used other methods to examine the relationship between drugs and crime. The NZ Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring study tests people shortly after arrest to identify which drugs are present in their system. In 2016, methamphetamine was detected in 19% of detainees, compared with cannabis at 56%. However, the presence of a drug does not mean it caused someone to offend. Because of this limitation, some studies ask people whether drug use contributed to their offending. The Drug Use Monitoring in Australia study found that in 2019, 27.6% reported methamphetamine contributed to their offending, compared with 16.5% for alcohol and 6.9% for cannabis. However, similar research in Canada shows a different pattern. A 2016 study of federally sentenced people linked alcohol to 17% of offences, cocaine to 11%, opioids to 5%, while stimulants, including methamphetamine, accounted for 3%. So while methamphetamine may show a stronger relationship with offending in NZ and Australia, this pattern isn't consistent internationally. This suggests that context and availability shape a drug’s relationship to crime, rather than the inherent properties of the drug itself. Next time we'll look at the role of media in amplifying stigma around methamphetamine. Boop the link in our profile for the receipts 😘

Hi Wānaka friends! We've got a drug checking clinic coming up in your neck of the woods, so come and say hi 😊 💛 When: 5-9pm, 15th May 💛 Where: The Armstrong Room, Lake Wanaka Centre, 89 Ardmore Street, Wānaka Drug checking is free, confidential, non-judgmental, and 100% legal, so bring us your gear, settle in for some high quality harm reduction yarns, and find out what's in your stuff 💛

Hi Bay of Plenty friends! We've got our regular drug checking clinic coming up, so come and say hi 😊 💛 When: 12-3pm, 15th May 💛 Where: NEMMS needle exchange, 21b Totara Street, Mount Maunganui. Use the Phoenix Lane entrance. Drug checking is free, confidential, non-judgmental, and 100% legal, so bring us your gear, settle in for some high quality harm reduction yarns, and find out what's in your stuff 💛