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Canterbury’s meth use up nearly 40% on last year’s average, wastewater testing shows

Thursday, 11 June 2026

Nigel Loughton, clinical director of Odyssey House Christchurch, says meth is the most common substance reported in its intensive services.
Nigel Loughton, clinical director of Odyssey House Christchurch, says meth is the most common substance reported in its intensive services.

Canterbury has one of the lowest rates of meth usage in the country – but it’s on the rise, and it’s taking a human toll.

Police have released their latest wastewater drug testing results, which covers the first three months of 2026. The figures show Aotearoa’s methamphetamine use has continued to rise, with above-average levels recorded in almost every region in the country.

Kiwis consumed about 36.6kg of the Class A drug per week, up from 34.7kg during the last three months of 2025. This was 15% higher than the average quantity consumed over the past four quarters, according to the data, and nationally, equated to an estimated social harm cost of $38.4 million every week.

Canterbury was near the bottom of the list, with only the Southern policing district recording lower meth usage. But even so, there has been a substantial rise.

Cantabrians consumed an average of 916mg of meth per day for every thousand people between January and March this year, up nearly 20% on the last three months’ average of 765mg.

It was also the second-highest region in the country for party drug MDMA usage, up by 33% on last year’s average.

Of the 891 people referred to intensive services at Odyssey House Christchurch, a residential drug and alcohol treatment programme, from June last year to this month, 490 of them had identified meth as the primary or secondary substance they needed help with.

Clinical director Nigel Loughton said they hadn’t seen a huge change in the number of people seeking support over the past two years, but the drug continued to be a major problem.

“Methamphetamine is the most common substance reported in our intensive services,” he said.

“That represents kind of a proxy for a harm indicator really, in a way. So it is causing significant harm out there.”

It was hurting Christchurch’s communities in a range of ways, he said, from harming families and relationships, to causing financial woes, to physical and mental health complications.

“We see a number of people who go through [our services], come through the criminal justice system… Methamphetamine, when it gets to the significant use level, more often than not would involve criminal justice or offending.”

But Loughton said serious problems were often key motivators for people seeking help, which meant there could be a whole other group of people using the drug local support services were not aware of.

“There'll be a significant amount of people who are using methamphetamine who aren’t presenting to services, because it hasn’t created enough of an issue for them at that point in time.”

(File photo) Drug researchers say the price of meth has dropped in recent years, which could be a factor.
(File photo) Drug researchers say the price of meth has dropped in recent years, which could be a factor.

Canterbury Police and Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith have been approached for comment.

Chris Wilkins, Marta Rychert and Robin van der Sanden, from Massey University’s SHORE & Whariki Drug Research Team, said in a joint statement it was concerning the country’s meth use continued to break records.

Their own New Zealand Drug Trends (NZDTS) data also showed users had increased the amount of the drug they consumed, with weekly or more frequent methamphetamine use rising from 27% in 2018/19, to 57% in 2025.

“There have also been significant price declines for methamphetamine in NZ, with a gram of meth declining from $563 in 2017/18 to $334 in 2025,” they said

This was a price drop of 41%, or 55% accounting for inflation.

On the other hand, the researchers said MDMA use often had a seasonal component, “with increases during the summer music festival period from January to March”.

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