Northland Labour MP Shane Jones has backed a call for people to leave it to police to deal with methamphetamine manufacturing at Whangape on the Far North west coast.

A coroner has recommended that boaties should be warned about the dangers of smoking cannabis.

A teenager has reportedly been blinded after drinking a methanol-laced cocktail in Bali.

New Zealand's "king" of legal cannabis faces trafficking charges in Australia after allegedly being found with a "commercial quantity" of drugs.

A house sale was halted during a packed auction after a forensic consultant announced the property was contaminated by P making.

A man suffering from paranoid schizophrenia tried to kill his brother-in-law days after being released from a mental health unit at Auckland Hospital.

A tip-off by a suspicious Bunnings employee led to the discovery of a Rotorua drug manufacturing operation, a court has heard.

Prime Minister and Tourism Minster John Key won't be drawn into the debate over legalising cannabis to aid tourism, using Northland as a trial area.

South Pacific islands are being targeted by crime syndicates as bases from which to smuggle drugs and guns to New Zealand and Australia.

A gang member primarily responsible for the misappropriation of $20,000 of government funds for the gang to buy cannabis has been jailed for four years.

Cannabis law reformers want Northland, the "cannabis capital of New Zealand," to trial marijuana liberalisation in a bid to increase tourism.

A group of Latin American leaders yesterday declared that votes by two American states to legalise cannabis have important implications for efforts to quash drug smuggling.

The grieving parents of Josh Tunnicliffe, who died last Sunday aged 27, have battled for a decade to fight their son's huffing addiction.

A drug mule caught smuggling 4kg of methamphetamine into London was working for an organised crime syndicate in New Zealand, police in Britain say.

Ensuring drug sniffer dogs continue to detect illegal drugs in schools is essential in dealing with young people's addiction and keeping them in education, a leading Northland youth counsellor says.

Police have released the name of a man whose body was found next to gas canisters in Dunedin's Botanic Gardens yesterday, but are yet to establish whether he is the latest victim of "huffing".

A new court designed to tackle the underlying causes of crime will save lives and money, say judges.

A routine traffic stop at Umawera, in the Far North, led to the discovery of a methamphetamine lab at Whangape, police say.

A Northland headmaster has written to John Key about his concerns over banning drug sniffer dogs from schools, saying it is "short-sighted nonsense".