scoop.co.nzHigh Alert
Also: High Alert drug early warning system
New Zealand's public drug early warning system, launched 26 June 2020 by Police, Customs and the Ministry of Health with help from the NZ Drug Foundation. It publishes alerts and notifications about dangerous or mislabelled drugs, such as fentanyl sold as cocaine (2022) and a potent synthetic opioid sold as heroin (2025), with harm reduction advice through its website, email list, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
- Years
- 2020–now
- Reach
- 3.2M reached as reported“Operator reports (July 2025): 1.4 million website visitors and nearly 2 million views of harm reduction information since launch, 3.2 million people reached on Facebook and Instagram, 1.5 million TikTok views since 2022, over 10,000 email subscribers with a 60% average open rate.”
- Country
- New Zealand
- Topic
- DrugsHarm reductionOpioids
- Asks people to
- Recognize
- Strategy
- Simple instruction
- Channel
- Direct mailSocial (organic)Website
- Audience
- AdultsYoung adultsPeople who use drugs, their friends and families, and health and social service workers.
Evidence
Self-reportedUnknown
Operator reports (July 2025): 1.4 million website visitors and nearly 2 million views of harm reduction information since launch, 3.2 million people reached on Facebook and Instagram, 1.5 million TikTok views since 2022, over 10,000 email subscribers with a 60% average open rate. No evaluation of behavior change found.
Sponsor (who paid)
- Drug Information and Alerts Aotearoa New Zealand (DIANZ), National Drug Intelligence Bureau Foreign government, operator
- New Zealand Police Foreign government, partner
- New Zealand Customs Service Foreign government, partner
- Manatū Hauora Ministry of Health Foreign government, partner
- NZ Drug Foundation NGO, partner
Credits (who made it)
Not recorded yet.
Sources
Research notes
Discovered 2026-10-22 for #17. No agency credited. An ongoing early-warning communications service rather than a flighted ad campaign; included because it carries New Zealand's fentanyl and synthetic opioid warnings. Covers all drugs, not only opioids. highalert.org.nz is script-rendered (not readable with curl/WebFetch).
Record cases/nz-high-alert.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign