National Drugs in Wastewater Testing Programme - 2024 Annual Overview

This overview of the Drugs in Wastewater Testing Programme results for 2024 outlines the estimated annual consumption across all 61 testing sites in 2024 in comparison with 2023 and summarises general trends for the key commodities (methamphetamine, MDMA and cocaine).

It also includes estimates of annual number of common doses consumed, annual social harm cost and annual amount spent on these drugs (dollar value). They have been included to provide perspective.

• Dose estimates do not account for changes to purity, physiological tolerance to a substance, or very heavy use.
• Social harm cost estimates are derived from the New Zealand Illicit Drug Harm Index 2023 (National Drug Intelligence Bureau (2023). The New Zealand Illicit Drug Harm Index 2023: Research report. Wellington: Ministry of Health). The Drug Harm Index 2023 provides a conservative measure of the harms associated with the use of illicit drugs in New Zealand and considers both personal and community harms.
• Dollar value is based on the national average price per gram for each commodity.

New sites were added to the programme in 2024. This has had a small impact on the measured totals across all sites. To account for this, comparison between 2024 totals excluding new sites has also been included.

Key findings 2024

• At least 1,434 kilograms of methamphetamine, 367 kilograms of MDMA and 215 kilograms of cocaine was consumed across testing sites in 2024, equating to an estimated annual social harm cost of $1.66 billion.
• Methamphetamine and cocaine consumption almost doubled when compared with 2023.
• Locations with high methamphetamine use per capita were largely regional North Island towns also experiencing high rates of socioeconomic deprivation.
• Daily wastewater data continues to show MDMA consumption is largely recreational. Locations with high per capita MDMA use were predominantly in the South Island.
• Daily wastewater data continues to show cocaine use is largely recreational. Average cocaine use in 2024 exceeded MDMA use at some sites for the first time, indicating the potential for cocaine demand to continue to grow.