However, the Medical Council of New Zealand, which helps regulate doctors and assists with doctors' health, disputes these claims.
Andrew Connolly, chairman of the Medical Council, said the disciplinary processes for addressing this issue for both the council and the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal have worked well for many years.
"The council is of the view there is no need for change," Connolly told the Herald.
Penalties for this professional misconduct included removing the doctor from Medical Register, suspending the doctor for up to three years, imposing conditions on practice, costs and a fine up to $30,000.
The 25 cases included forging a colleague's personal stamp on prescriptions, giving a patient who the doctor was in a sexual relationship with drugs without a prescription, collecting drugs for personal use and prescribing drugs to a patient with addiction issues.
Researchers of the report pointed out that while the findings gave some insight into the disciplinary consequences of inappropriate prescribing of drugs of dependence in New Zealand, the extent of the problem remained unclear.
The study found that most disciplined doctors were men, working in general practice, and had been in practice a long time.
Middleton said it may be that drug-dependent doctors pose a greater risk to themselves than they do to the health and safety of the public.
Few cases, 16 per cent, came to the attention of the authorities via notification from medical colleagues, Middleton said.
"Doctors may be unaware of drug dependence in their midst, unaware of their duty to report, or unwilling to report," she said.
The researchers argued this issue needed to be taken more seriously.
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