Imperans Q2 Report, State of Workplace Drug Use from TDDA
AUCKLAND, New Zealand, 16 July 2026 – Cocaine use is on the rise across New Zealand workplaces. That’s a key finding of the latest Imperans Report, a quarterly analysis of drug use in the workplace prepared by The Drug Detection Agency (TDDA), New Zealand’s largest workplace drug testing provider.
The Imperans report empowers New Zealand employers to engage in proactive workplace risk management, it provides them with an analysis of drug and alcohol usage trends, combining results from across the country.
Growing cocaine use is not the only workplace concern. Among all positive results across New Zealand, compared with year-on-year (YoY) substance detections are as follows.
· ATS (including methamphetamine): 32.7% of positive tests, up 5.2% YoY
· Cannabis: 64.4% of positive tests, up 1.7% YoY
If there’s a silver lining, it’s that opioid use (including oxycodone) is down. Opioids were present in 18.2% of positive tests, in Q2, down 14.0% YoY.
This quarter, 2.8% of all screens conducted by TDDA indicated the presence of drugs, showing a slight downward trend compared with 3.0% in Q1. Of positive test rates, there is a backdrop of cocaine and ATS rebounding strongly against the same quarter a year ago.
Cocaine accounted for 2.8% of positive tests in Q2 2026, up 68.5% YoY, and setting aside the seasonal Q4 peak, its highest level in a year.
“TDDA data is showing that cocaine retreated from Q4 levels, which peaked over Christmas and New Year, but is roaring back in Q2. It is becoming increasingly likely that cocaine, buoyed by cartels and other South Pacific drug trade activity, is something employers even in white collar industries need to worry about. The substance is becoming highly available due to supply networks – rather than just a one-off spike,” says Glenn Dobson, chief executive of TDDA.
ATS, including methamphetamine, accounted for 32.7% of positive tests, up 5.2% YoY, after easing since Q3 2025. Businesses in the South Island should take note, as the region is seeing the largest spike in positive rates.
“Cocaine and ATS interfere with the way the brain judges risk, producing misplaced confidence and slower decisions at exactly the wrong moment. On safety-critical sites, where a small margin or a split second can be the difference, that combination can turn deadly fast. When judgement slips on a construction site or behind the wheel of a truck, the consequences reach past the workers and colleagues, and into families waiting at home.”
Regional trends
TDDA tracks regional fluctuations in substance use to help employers better manage workplace safety risks through targeted testing, education, and early intervention.
Cocaine
Cocaine is spreading nationally, reaching its highest level in a year across several regions below.
· Canterbury: 3.1% of positive tests, up 375.8% YoY
· Otago: 4.5% of positive tests, up 146.2% YoY
· Hawke’s Bay: 5.3% of positive tests, up 81.3% YoY
· Manawatū-Whanganui recorded cocaine detections of 5.1% of positive tests in Q2 2026, up from zero detections in the same quarter last year
ATS
The YoY rise in ATS runs strongest through the South Island.
· Southland: 44.0% of positive tests, up 200.8% YoY
· Otago: 25.4% of positive tests, up 153.7% YoY
· Bay of Plenty: 34.4% of positive tests, up 84.4% YoY
The quarterly ATS picture suggests employers should watch further north too. Auckland East, Hawke’s Bay, Northland, Taranaki and Tasman have all turned sharply upward in recent quarters.
Opioids
Opioids are settling nationally, though some regions keep climbing.
· Gisborne: 26.3% of positive tests, up 216.0% YoY
· Taranaki: 14.3% of positive tests, up 62.0% YoY
· Wellington: 18.6% of positive tests, up 56.6% YoY
· Otago: 41.8% of positive tests, up 27.7% YoY, the highest detection rate in the country.
What this means for employers
“When cocaine and ATS move region by region like this, a drug and alcohol testing programme set once and left alone quietly falls behind the risk. The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 puts the obligation on employers to manage foreseeable risks, and substance use in safety-critical roles is exactly that. The starting point is a drug and alcohol policy that covers illicit, synthetic and prescription drugs alongside alcohol. It also gives managers and supervisors who sense something is off, yet don’t really know how to act, a clear path to follow,” says Dobson.
Stimulants can clear the body faster than depressants like opioids, so a single test at one point in time often misses them, and when and how a business tests employees shapes what is discovered.
“Pre-employment testing catches drug use at the door and shows on day one that the policy is more than words on paper. To keep catching fast-clearing substances like stimulants after that, random testing works well alongside it.
“In Q1 we warned that opioids were spreading quietly, and this quarter the more visible stimulants are returning alongside them. In the end, this isn’t just about compliance, because every person who turns up on site each day deserves to finish the day and get home safe. That is what TDDA protects.”
Methodology: Tests from 27 sterile clinic locations and over 60 mobile clinics throughout New Zealand were used. All tests were taken between 1 April and 30 June 2026. Data from pre-employment, post incident, regular and random testing has been combined. Testing methods included urine and oral fluid screening. Data is reported into, anonymised, and aggregated using TDDA’s Imperans system, a bespoke IT platform for testing services, data recording, and reporting. It represents a snapshot of drug trends across Australasian workplaces and industries.
Total figures on testing volumes or testing results by industry and region are commercially sensitive.
TDDA drug tests screen for amphetamines; benzodiazepines; cocaine; methamphetamine; opiates and opioids; Cannabis; and synthetic drugs.
About the Imperans Report
The Imperans report addresses an information gap for business. Government organisations like ACC and WorkSafe publish incident reports, but they do not quantify when substances are a factor. Reports build businesses’ understanding of substance use patterns regionally and temporally so that they can anticipate and reduce workplace risks. TDDA provides over 250,000 tests every year.
About The Drug Detection Agency
The Drug Detection Agency (TDDA) is a leader in workplace substance testing with more than 300 staff, 90 mobile health clinics, 65 locations throughout Australasia. TDDA was established in 2005 to provide New Zealand and Australian businesses with end-to-end workplace substance testing, education and policy services. TDDA holds ISO17025 accreditation for workplace substance testing in both AU and NZ. Refer to the IANZ and NATA websites for TDDA’s full accreditation details. As members of the National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association (NDASA) and the California Narcotic Officers Association (CNOA), TDDA closely follows and acts on global drug trends.
Learn more about TDDA at https://tdda.com/, and read about the thinking behind TDDA’s work at https://tdda.com/protecting-the-girl-on-the-bike/.