Source: NZ Drug Foundation Te Puna Whakaiti Pāmamae Kai Whakapiri
20 October 2026
New Zealand is losing three people a week to preventable overdose, while hospitalisations from stimulants like methamphetamine and cocaine are increasing alongside a recent surge in consumption.
Last year 169 people died from accidental overdose, representing 6,659 years of potential life lost, according to a new NZ Drug Foundation report analysing coronial and Te Whatu Ora data on overdose deaths and hospitalisations.
“It’s heartbreaking and frankly unacceptable that for the last ten years we’ve failed to bring these numbers down,” executive director Sarah Helm says.
“We’ve lost 1,440 New Zealanders to entirely preventable overdose in the last decade. That’s an immeasurable amount of pain and loss in our community and so much life cut short.”
Opioids remained the biggest driver of deaths in 2025 and across the entire period since 2016. Mixing drugs was also a major contributor, with two or more substances involved in 85% of cases where complete data was available.
Helm says that stimulant deaths have been concerningly high since 2022, with hospitalisations increasing alongside rising methamphetamine and cocaine consumption.
“We know from wastewater data that methamphetamine and cocaine consumption has been at record levels for the last two years, and we’re starting to see the harm show up in this data,” she says.
Helm is concerned that some people may not realise that stimulants can cause a fatal overdose.
“Taking too much of a stimulant like cocaine or methamphetamine can cause body functions to speed up too much, leading to overamping – which is a stimulant overdose. That can be fatal if people don’t get medical attention quickly.”
Helm says that people taking stimulants should visit The Level to understand the signs of overamping and how to respond.
“Stimulants can also cause chronic long-term effects, so our fear is that the numbers in this report are only the beginning in terms of harms that will be showing up in our health system.”
Māori continue to bear the greatest burden, with twice the overdose hospitalisation rate and more than twice the death rate of non-Māori.
Helm says a major problem preventing coordinated action has been the lack of a well-integrated national system for tracking overdose numbers and trends.
“There is a huge information gap that is preventing actions which could save lives. We do our best as a small independent charity to gather and monitor the data that we can, but we desperately need properly resourced overdose monitoring within government.”
SOME KEY FACTS:
- Opioids remain the main driver of deaths in 2025 and have contributed to about half of all overdose deaths since 2016.
- Cocaine deaths are likely on the rise, with 16 of 24 recorded cases occurring between 2023 and 2025.
- Māori continue to be significantly overrepresented in hospitalisations and overdose death statistics.
- People aged 45–54 have the highest overdose death rate.
- Hospitalisations from stimulants such as methamphetamine and cocaine have risen since 2023, while hospitalisations from other substances have been stable or falling in recent years.
The drug market is also becoming more volatile, with novel substances – designed to mimic well-known illicit drugs and often extremely potent – appearing in almost one in 10 cases since 2016.
Helm says legislative efforts such as the Drug Overdose (Assistance Protection) Legislation Bill currently before the Health Committee, which would remove criminal penalties for people seeking help during an overdose, could save lives.
“Accidental overdoses are preventable, and we need a health-based approach to turn things around,” Helm says.
The Drug Foundation is calling for a comprehensive overdose programme with targeted support for at-risk groups such as Māori and people aged 45–54, a take-home naloxone scheme like the one running in Australia, and a pilot overdose prevention centre that would move drug use off city streets and into a medically supervised setting.