High Alert, New Zealand’s drug early warning system, is celebrating five years of reducing harm from dangerous drugs.

Since its public launch on 26 June 2020, High Alert has reached more than three million people with harm reduction advice and early warnings about particular dangerous drugs across the country.

It is a world-leading early warning system that seeks to identify acute drug harm, understand and evidence outbreaks and, in some cases, anticipate potential harm.

This information is then shared across the High Alert website(link is external), and social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

High Alert is a multi-agency initiative operated by Drug Information and Alerts Aotearoa New Zealand (DIANZ), housed within the National Drug Intelligence Bureau (NDIB).

It is supported by a network of health professionals and social services, both government and non-government.

These include the New Zealand Institute for Public Health and Forensic Science Limited (PHF Science) the New Zealand Drug Foundation, KnowYourStuffNZ, New Zealand Needle Exchange Programme, Hato Hone St John New Zealand, and Wellington Free Ambulance.

While a core function of High Alert is providing harm reduction information to the public, it also presents opportunities to engage with partners who may not traditionally associate with law enforcement.

Before High Alert’s launch in 2020, there was minimal coordination or ability to bring these groups together to understand what they were seeing on the frontlines, and no structures in place to link harm occurring in different parts of the country.

Now, High Alert monitors this network and undertakes daily scanning across various information sources to identify where drug harm has, or could, occur.

“The ongoing success of the early warning system shows people are actively looking for this type of information and demonstrates the enormous potential of High Alert to prevent harm,” says Aaron Holloway, Manager of the Intelligence Fusion Teams.

Members of the public can subscribe confidentially to receive early warning notifications directly to their inboxes, cutting out the reliance on social media algorithms and third-party websites.

The High Alert website also allows people to report any unusual or unexpected effects from drugs, providing them with a safe outlet to share their experiences and help keep others safe.

Over the past five years, High Alert has received 158 of these reports. It has issued 40 early warning notifications, each prompting thousands of visits to the site and national media coverage.

The warning that attracted the most media interest regarded the incident in 2022 where fentanyl was misrepresented as cocaine in Wairarapa.

More recently, in June 2025, High Alert issued two notifications after a highly potent synthetic opioid was misrepresented as heroin(link is external), and heroin was misrepresented as benzodiazepine in Auckland(link is external).

More than 1.4 million people have visited the website since its launch, with nearly 2 million views of harm reduction information.

High Alert has reached a further 3.2 million people via Facebook and Instagram and has generated more than 1.5 million TikTok views since launching on the platform in 2022.

High Alert’s mailing list has also seen steady growth, with more than 10,000 members of the public subscribed to receive early warning notifications.

These emails consistently achieve a high open rate, an average of 60 percent compared to the industry standard of 33 percent. More than 1,500 healthcare professionals are also signed up to receive notifications and harm reduction information.

The team looks forward to building on all they’ve achieved to help reduce drug-related harm across Aotearoa New Zealand in the future.

Spread the word

To receive High Alert email alerts or notifications, sign up at www.highalert.org.nz(link is external)
.If you would like to get involved email highalert@highalert.org.nz(link sends e-mail)
Examples of recent warnings:
• Highly potent synthetic opioid misrepresented as heroin(link is external)
• Heroin misrepresented as a benzodiazepine in the Auckland region(link is external)
• Cocaine adulterated with tetracaine in Otago region(link is external)
• New benzodiazepine ethylbromazolam detected in New Zealand

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