Latest from Drug Abuse

PM: Leaving legal highs on market was a mistake

PM John Key says leaving some synthetic drugs on the market was “a mistake” and Government should have banned all products until a rigorous testing regime was in place.

Legal-highs ban: Families elated

New Zealanders whose lives have been blighted by the dangers of legal highs are thrilled by plans to pull them from sale within a fortnight.

John Roughan: 'Nice' law creating grim reality

It is still hard to believe New Zealand legalised cannabis last July. The Psychoactive Substances Act applies only to chemical creations of the drug but these are said to be more potent than the plant.

Tourist city eyes ban on legal highs

The sale of legal highs could be effectively banned in Rotorua from June 5.

Pre-job testing finds few on drugs

Just one in 100 beneficiaries who had pre-employment drug tests under a new government policy showed any sign of drug abuse.

Legal highs can't be banned - Dunne

A ban on legal highs is not possible because the chemical composition of synthetic cannabis keeps changing, Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne says.

Gvt 'wimpish' over legal highs

New Zealanders have been let down by a "wimpish'' Government over its refusal to ban psychoactive substances, Napier Mayor Bill Dalton says.

Protesting legal highs

Auckland teenager Rose started smoking synthetic cannabis with a friend two years ago just to "hang out".

Transgender woman could be moved

A transgender Oamaru woman sentenced on Wednesday to nine months' imprisonment in a men's jail could apply to be moved to a women's prison.

More legal high shops close as local body powers kick in

Government regulators have agreed to shut down Hamilton's six "legal high" synthetic drug shops.

Bingeing puts strain on schools

Australia's teenagers are increasingly becoming trapped in a culture of booze, drugs and gambling.

Synthetic LSD use worries health officials

More tabs of LSD and its deadly synthetic counterpart `N-Bomb' have been seized by police in one month this year than in all of 2012.

Four restrained after taking new drug

Four men had to be restrained at a party in Christchurch after taking a new and dangerous drug with the nickname N-Bomb.

Four in court over upmarket P-lab

Four people appeared in court today facing charges related to a P lab that was discovered in a central Wellington apartment early today.

P-lab found in upmarket apartment

Armed police stumbled onto a P lab in an upmarket Wellington apartment while executing a search warrant just metres from their district headquarters this morning.

'Unstable' Corby in suicide attempt

An Indonesian official has said Schapelle Corby tried to kill herself when he informed her that the government might send her back to prison.

Threat to revoke Corby's parole

Indonesia's justice minister says he may revoke Schapelle Corby's parole after watching an Australian documentary about her release from jail.

Schapelle Corby 'broken now' - sister

An emotional Mercedes Corby says she had to feed, medicate and bathe her sister during her time behind bars in Bali.