Children using smartphones and tablets from an early age can have both troubling and positive consequences, a leading academic says.

Most of us have been living it up in party mode and having an extra glass or two. But it costs us more than we think.

George Michael's family and close friends said there could be "no more fitting tribute" to the singer than the "many, many kind words" they have received.

The Star Wars series featured a man-made planet called the Death Star which destroys other worlds with a giant laser.

School aged children don't know Mike King as the funny man, he's instead the guy on stage telling them it's ok to talk about problems and to ask for help.

The author and newspaper columnist AA Gill has died at the age of 62, following a brief battle with cancer.

A meth dealer and addict for 20 years, Australian Pat Smith recalls the night he fired a sawn-off shotgun at a man at point blank range. It turned his life around.

Video games are more addictive than ever. This is what happens when kids can't turn them off.

In a Sydney property, a postmodern shaman grows psychedelic plants he says he uses for medicine - plus one man tells of how ecstasy has helped him overcome PTSD.

West Coast had highest rate

A vicar's wife has told a tribunal how her husband led a double life as a bisexual sex addict.

As a nationwide opioid epidemic raged, DEA investigators went after companies distributing millions of highly addictive pills. Then, their cases ground to a halt.

A woman who stole 300 pieces of mail to get money for her meth habit dodged a prison sentence in court today.

Methamphetamine addicts are flooding New Zealand's rehab services, with some reporting an 80 per cent surge in demand for services in the last six months.

A doctor used the names of six people to get prescription drugs for herself.

This may look like the personal account of a French model, but there's more to these images than you think.

WATCH: Successful New Zealand fashion designer, Kharl WiRepa from Rotorua opens up about his life before and after his addiction to meth.

Maori Party co-leader and Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell says he is sick and tired of attending tangi of Maori who have died as a result

Former meth addict Haydee Richards believes most people don't realise just how prevalent the drug is.

Addiction specialists have praised a police directive to treat meth dealers' clients as victims and offer them support.

Four alcoholic patients fitted with brain microchips as part of NZ research into addiction have seen their cravings for alcohol dramatically reduce.

A Dunedin-based neurosurgeon is investigating whether tiny devices implanted in the brain can stop alcoholics' cravings.

More people seek help for problem drinking in the three months following Dry July, the Salvation Army says. Dry July is a campaign

A man whose alcohol addiction had "overwhelmed him" since the death of his wife, fell asleep drunk in the back of the Greymouth District Court

COMMENT: Smoking is the filthy-rich, tax dodging, environment-trashing capitalist pig of vices, writes Paul Thomas.

Psychological research on persuasion and self-control suggests some strategies to help you resist insidious pull of online distractions.

A simple jab could stop cravings for alcohol, cigarettes and junk food, say scientists.

The country's worst drink driver has undergone a lengthy prison rehabilitation programme aimed at stopping him offending again upon his release next month.

A new consumer behaviour survey backs other research that there is a growth of "digital dependency" in New Zealand, according to a leading academic.