“Estimated meth consumption increased in April 2026 to a record high, with at least 39.6kg (1.98 million common doses) consumed across sample sites during one week,” a June briefing from the Ministry of Justice said.
“This was 21% (or 6.8kg) above the average amount consumed over the previous 12 months.
“The overall increase was largely driven by exceptionally high quantities recorded in a single Tāmaki Makaurau [Auckland] catchment, which significantly elevated the national total for that reporting period.”
Casey Costello, the minister in charge of tackling transnational and serious organised crime, told the Herald there had been a reprieve in the most recent data. Weekly consumption fell in June to 27.7kg, 18% lower than the average over the previous four quarters.
She wouldn’t say which Auckland catchment contributed to April’s peak, though those on the frontline have been concerned about increasing meth use in South Auckland and the Auckland CBD.
Wastewater testing, which covers about 77% of the population, also showed a sharp rise in MDMA consumption, up 21% for the first quarter of 2026 compared with the previous four quarters.
Cocaine use also continued its rising trend, with consumption in 2025 more than 10 times higher than in 2021.
“MDMA use also decreased in May and June, while cocaine use remained around previous levels,” Costello said.
Meth consumption rose sharply in July 2024 to 29.2kg a week, about double what it had been for several years.
As prices fell, weekly consumption continued increasing to 33.67kg for 2025, and again in January to 36.8kg.
Auckland wastewater sites accounted for 47% of total meth consumption in 2025, but in January this increased to 56%, the justice briefing said. Health NZ Counties Manukau has said meth use in South Auckland has doubled in recent years.
Consumption dipped slightly in February before edging higher to 37kg in March and peaking in April.
‘Low engagement and early drop-off’
The sustained increase prompted the Government’s announcement, in November, of a multi-agency response to methamphetamine harm. This followed an expert group’s report that called organised crime New Zealand’s No 1 threat to national security.
The plan includes a national awareness campaign, which launched in December and has three phases:
- a $100,000 phase one for a small scale “test and learn” campaign to “establish a presence quickly, raise awareness of harm, test core messaging and build audience insights”;
- a “stop before you start” phase two from May 2026-June 2027, costing $1.68 million;
- a $2.48m phase three, from 2027 to 2029, involving a comprehensive multi-channel campaign delivered through a specialist creative agency.
Phase one took place from December to February and included a video across social media channels titled, “How meth addiction works”, which reached 855,625 people across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
Some 450 people watched the full video, with an average view time of two seconds “and a sharp drop-off at the point where explicit meth harm evidence is introduced”, according to a February aide-memoire from the Justice Ministry.
“The campaign is not generating the levels of attention or interaction typically associated with health behaviour change campaigns,” the aide-memoire said.
There were 77 comments across all platforms, “mostly light-hearted jokes about cynical responses, showing the harm messaging was not necessarily being taken seriously”.
“Low engagement and early drop-off suggest most did not find the phase one content relevant,” the aide-memoire said.
Over the eight weeks of phase one, there were:
- 5883 visits to the campaign’s online landing page;
- 598 engaged sessions (people with an active interaction with the page);
- an average time on the site of four seconds;
- four clicks to call an alcohol and drug helpline;
- 59 clicks to The Level, the NZ Drug Foundation’s online harm reduction platform.
Phase two is launching this month.
Lower prices and a coping mechanism
The increase in New Zealand’s meth use correlates with falling prices; the average price of a gram of meth fell 41% between 2017/18 and 2025 (from $563 to $334), according to the NZ Drug Trends Survey (NZDTS).
“Mexican drug cartels are increasingly identified as trafficking methamphetamine to New Zealand, with the drugs processed in Canadian ‘superlabs’ and sent via Pacific Nation transit routes (Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa), to be distributed domestically in New Zealand and Australia via partnerships with local outlaw motorcycle gangs,” a 2025 NZDTS report said.
The proportion of NZDTS respondents reporting weekly meth use has more than doubled: from 27% in 2018/19 to 57% in 2025.
In 2024, one in five respondents said their increasing use was because of meth becoming cheaper, this jumped to one in three in 2025.
“Increasing methamphetamine consumption is largely being driven by more intensive use by existing users (in response to price declines) rather than a significant expansion in the total number of users.”
This is also reflected in the Ministry of Health’s annual health survey, which shows a shrinking proportion of the population having used an “amphetamine-type stimulant” over the previous 12 months: 1% or about 42,000 adults in 2024/25, down from 1.3% the previous year when total consumption was much lower.
The most common reason for using meth was to “cope with problems”, according to the NZDTS report, which noted “known stresses for increasing drug use including poverty, trauma, unemployment and hopelessness”. Some 31% of users reported an annual income below $31,000, while one in three cited their occupation as unemployed (18%) or sickness (14%).
Using meth can provide a temporary escape from someone’s grim reality or trauma. Last year the NZ Drug Foundation described a “perfect storm” feeding rising consumption, with rising unemployment and homelessness amid an ongoing cost of living crisis.
NZ Customs appears to be catching more methamphetamine at the border than what gets through.
In 2025, Customs intercepted about 2500kg of meth, mostly at the border or in mail centres, higher than the 1751kg of consumption detected in wastewater nationwide.
In 2024, 2877kg was intercepted, double what was consumed according to wastewater testing (1434kg), though these cannot be directly compared as there is no indication of when the consumed methamphetamine entered the country.
‘Making good progress’ – Costello
A more successful plank in the Government’s plan is aerial surveillance in the Pacific Ocean. This has been operating for months and, in February, helped intercept 4.24 tonnes of cocaine in French Polynesia.
Costello said a total of 14 tonnes of cocaine was intercepted in the first half of this year. She did not report any maritime methamphetamine seizures.
“As I’ve said previously, our approach to organised crime has to be commodity agnostic – that is, we need to tackle the groups and their finances as they will do anything to make money,” she said.
“That’s why we’re driving a whole-of-government response and investing in protecting the border. But meth is a particularly harmful and addictive drug and we have to continue to reduce its supply and use.”
Maritime efforts received a boost at the Pacific Islands Forum last week, when Australia committed A$600m ($736m) to fight drug trafficking in the Pacific.
Other parts of the plan are still in progress, including establishing police liaison officers in the Middle East and South America.
“The new liaison officers in the United Arab Emirates and Colombia will be taking up their posts in the next couple of weeks,” Costello said.
Eight staff have been recruited for an additional money-laundering team within NZ Police, but a law change to enable police to seize the ill-gotten gains of organised crime groups quicker has been put on the backburner because of a busy legislative programme.
Almost $12m in funding has been delivered so harm-reduction and prevention programmes can continue, though the funding only lasts until the end of the year.
Further addiction support from a $30.6m fund is being rolled out for the meth-heaviest regions: Northland, Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne and Rotorua.
“An additional 10.6 fulltime workers have now been employed as part of the frontline response, alongside increased access to peer support, recovery groups and counselling for families,” Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said.
“Family Drug Support is also receiving increased funding to provide more free counselling and support nationwide for families affected by meth.
“Clinical treatment services planned for Kaikohe and Wairoa are expected to be in place in the coming months, with further peer support, treatment and family services also being established in Rotorua, Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay.”
Derek Cheng is a senior journalist who started at the Herald in 2004. He has worked several stints in the press gallery team and is a former deputy political editor.