national drug policy innovation process

Ministry of Health

The Ministry of Health co-ordinates the development and implementation of the National Drug Policy. innovate change partnered with the NZ Drug Foundation and the Ministry of Health to identify potential themes, outcomes and practical project ideas for the new National Drug Policy. It was intended that these would complement existing activity to aid the advancement of the policy's three pillars of harm minimization: demand reduction, problem limitation and supply control.

Action and Impact

We ran a series of workshops using highly interactive methods, co-design methodology where possible and the use of future focused scenarios. Workshops were held with clinicians and leaders from the alcohol and drug sector; policy staff from central government agencies; and senior officials from key government agencies.

Our aim was to collectively develop ideas for the future and identify key levers for making those ideas a reality. That meant identifying:

• Barriers and opportunities for achieving the futures we aspire to related to drug use and behaviour
• New and potentially innovative sector-driven responses to challenges enabling change in drug use and behaviour
• Priority areas for action for the new drug policy
• Themes and outcomes for action for the new drug policy
• Creative ways in which cross-sectoral and cross-agency action could be enabled.

The Ministry of Health now has a set of initiatives, themes and outcomes that have been developed from the insights of those working closest to alcohol and drug harm and prevention in New Zealand. These can be used as key ingredients for the new National Drug Policy.