We are a peer-led community organisation committed to harm reduction.
We are Aotearoa's original provider of drug-checking services. We've been operating legally and with public funding since 2020. Along with The New Zealand Drug Foundation and the DISC Trust, we provide free and confidential drug checking and harm reduction services at clinics and events across the motu.
Drug mixing chart
Keep in mind that when you take more than one drug at a time (and yes, that does include alcohol, don’t make us tap the sign) each drug has its own risk profile, so you’re increasing your chances of having a negative experience. And some substances definitely don’t play well with others.
Check the chartvolunteer for knowyourstuffnz
Thanks for your interest in volunteering. We’ve had a massive influx of new volunteers since we reopened applications in March. We have closed off new applications temporarily while we process and train this new cohort of volunteers. (published April 2024)
Nice words about us
Chlöe Swarbrick, Green Party Co-Leader
“People – like Wendy and the dozens of incred volunteers, and festival organisers who want to protect their punters – no longer risk arrest for offering this life saving service.”
David Seymour, Leader, ACT Party
“The ACT Party says that we should never stop people voluntarily helping each other, and that’s what people like KnowYourStuff are doing.”
Brooke Van Velden, Deputy Leader, ACT Party
“It can only be of a benefit that we are allowing people who are going to take those drugs to make an informed choice, because it clearly reduces risk.”
Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, former UNDP administrator
“This service saves lives”
Jacinda Ardern, former Prime Minister of New Zealand
“I think there are good grounds for it, as I say, I support it”
know our services
Events
Book us
Here you’ll find info about how to book KnowYourStuffNZ for your event, and important legal information.
More info
Pill Library
Drug information
A database of pills tested across New Zealand's drug checking services.
Pills
Reports
Big data
Annual reports of drugs we've checked and other crunchy data.
Details
Media
For Journalists
Latest press releases and the contact details for our media team.
know us by the numbers
- 0
Years operating legally
(10 years total) - 0
Samples tested at 375+ events
- 0
Number of volunteers involved
- 0
Percent of substances are not what they were supposed to be (on average)
How does drug checking work?
Where?
We offer drug checking services at festivals and events across the country. We host regular drug checking clinics in Tāmaki-Makarau/Auckland, the Waikato, Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington, Ōtautahi/Christchurch and Ōtepoti/Dunedin. Our partners the New Zealand Drug Foundation and the DISC Trust also offer regular services. Check the drug checking calendar to find a service near you.
What drugs can be tested?
We can test most substances that are in powder, crystal, liquid, or blotter form. For example, we regularly test MDMA, ketamine & cocaine. We can test LSD and mushrooms for the presence of indoles (the psychoactive component of these psychedelics). We can also test most steriods and other image-enhancing drugs, and pharmaceuticals such as benzodiazapenes. In some cases we may request to retain a small amount of your sample to send it away for further lab testing, if our testing methods don’t give a conclusive result.
Testing methods
Depending on your substance we will do either one or two tests to find out what your substance has in it: an FTIR infrared spectrometer test, and/or a reagent test. We also use test strips for specific tests on some drugs such as fentanyl, nitazenes, and benzodiazepines.
How much do you need for a test?
You give us a sample of what you need checked. We only need a wee pile the size of a match head for the FTIR spectrometer, and another small pile if we need to do a reagent test on your sample. Any sample not used in the checking process will be returned to you.
Substance Information
Once we know what’s in your substance, we give you harm reduction advice about what we’ve found. You can make an informed decision about what you want to do from there.