Cocaine and methamphetamine use continues to climb across New Zealand workplaces. The latest Imperans Report, a quarterly analysis of workplace drug use from The Drug Detection Agency (TDDA), carries a warning for employers ahead of the festive season.
TDDA’s Imperans report empowers New Zealand employers to engage in proactive workplace risk management, it provides them with an analysis of drug and alcohol usage trends, combining workplace testing and screening results from across the country. TDDA is New Zealand's largest workplace drug testing provider.
In Q3 2026, 3.2% of all screens conducted by TDDA indicated the presence of drugs, returning the nation’s businesses to an upward trend, compared with 2.8% in Q2.
Among all positive results across New Zealand, year-on-year (YoY) substance detections are as follows.
· Cocaine: 3.2% of positive tests, up 117.7% YoY
· ATS (including methamphetamine): 25.4% of positive tests, up 9.4% YoY
· THC (Cannabis): 68.9% of positive tests, down 3% YoY
Cocaine accounted for 3.2% of positive tests in Q3 2026, up 117.7% YoY. It is the highest level seen in a year outside of seasonal holiday peaks, and Auckland’s North Shore is establishing itself as a hotbed of activity.
What this means for employers
"Ahead of the holiday season, I'd recommend going through your health and safety checklist, and ensure it includes a comprehensive drug and alcohol policy and action plan for the worst that could happen. The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 puts the obligation on employers to manage foreseeable risks. With the right system in place to handle a situation, you can maintain a healthy and productive workforce, even through the silly season," says Dobson.
TDDA recommends reviewing the types of testing businesses use and the frequency of testing, such as in a random drug testing programme.
Education now helps supervisors and managers to recognise the behavioural signs of substance use and act on reasonable grounds – a skill needed as the nation moves towards the holidays. Employees need to know how drugs and alcohol affect safety, and why that matters. Testing is the foundation of the system and education is what makes that system work in an organisation.
"At TDDA, our mission is what we call protecting the girl on the bike. The truck, the commuter car, the construction site she rides past, every one of them is part of getting her home safely. That is what we are protecting," says Dobson.
