The annual drug checking report published by KnowYourStuffNZ (KYS) just dropped. Critic Te Ārohi delved into the numbers to uncover the highs and lows of drug testing over the 2021-2022 season.
KYS are a “community organisation of volunteers,” operating in partnership with the New Zealand Drug Foundation. They run Aotearoa’s largest and oldest drug checking service, offering free and anonymous drug tests for students. In case you were wondering, these test for the presence of a substance, not purity. (We went into more detail about this in Issue 4). Once tested, students are given harm reduction advice so that they can make an informed decision about taking the substance.
This year, 78% of the 1,611 samples tested by KYS were presumed to be what they are, up from 69% (nice) last year. Drug quality seemed particularly shit last year, with a Critic Te Ārohi investigation (Issue 4, 2021) blaming, you guessed it, Covid border closures for disrupting international drug supply chains. Meanwhile, 13% of samples gave results that were not consistent with what students thought they had (i.e. you’ve been screwed over by your dealer). Most of those were samples which were meant to be MDMA, but in reality had varying levels of cathinones (or “bath salts”) in them. Definitely not a vibe.
According to KYS, 42% of people who found out the drugs they got weren’t what they thought they were would send it anyway. One student told Critic Te Ārohi they got a testing kit from Cosmic after receiving advice from KYS. After testing they discovered that it “wasn’t real acid,” but, “I took it anyway.” However, the student explained that they had done their research and evaluated that the “risk wasn’t too dangerous,” also they “didn’t wanna waste it.” That’s certainly a decision.
Despite KYS offering a useful harm reduction service to students, it is often underutilised. While KYS tests thousands of samples every year, and were present at more events than ever this year, this is just a drop in the ocean of wider drug use. After all, “tens of thousands of doses of MDMA alone are consumed in Aotearoa every weekend”. Another student told Critic Te Ārohi that they didn’t get their drugs tested, because there was “no [drug checking] stall at the festival they were at,” but ended up having a bad trip from what she thought was acid (but turned out to be NBOMe, a much stronger synthetic hallucinogen).
To fill the gap, KYS called for an “expansion in drug checking services.” In November 2021, the Government passed the Drug and Substance Checking Legislation Bill, which allows these services to operate legally, as well as contributing $800,000 towards Aotearoa’s four approved drug-checking services: KYS, the New Zealand Drug Foundation, the New Zealand Needle Exchange Programme and the Institute of Environmental Science and Research.