Review of Misuse of Drugs Act 1975

Opened 1 Jul 2007

Contact Details

• Jo Dinsdale
• jdinsdale@lawcom.govt.nz
• 04 914 4807

Publications to date

19 Mar 2008		Terms of Reference
19 Mar 2008		Press Release
11 Feb 2010		Issues Paper
11 Feb 2010		Press Release

Criminal Law
It has been more than 30 years since the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 was first enacted. The Act has been amended on numerous occasions and is complex and difficult to understand and navigate. The Act’s framework is based on the recommendations of the 1973 report of the Blake-Palmer Committee and largely reflects the drug policies and issues of that era. There is concern that the Act is not well aligned with New Zealand’s National Drug Policy and does not provide a coherent and effective legislative framework for responding to the use of psychoactive drugs. The objective of the review is to propose a contemporary legislative framework for regulating drugs that is consistent with New Zealand’s international obligations concerning illegal and other drugs and reflects current knowledge and understanding about drug related harm. Current stage of the review: An issues paper “Controlling and regulating drugs” (NZLC IP16, Wellington 2010) was published on our website in February 2010. The issues paper can be downloaded from this website (via the Issues Paper tab) as a whole document, or individual chapters. A summary of the document can also be downloaded from this website. Public submissions on the paper are now closed. The Commission will release a short report on its review of the Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Act 1966 (which has been undertaken as part of its broader review) in September this year. The Commission’s final report on the rest of the project will be released in February 2011.