Wednesday, 28 May 2025 11:25

Drug survey

Written by Milking It

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OPINION: New national data from The Drug Detection Agency (TDDA), a leading workplace drug tester, shows methamphetamine (meth) use is growing and making up a disproportionate share of nonnegative workplace drug test results.

The proportion of meth detections has jumped since the start of the year January: 13.7%, February: 18.2% and March: 24.9%

The frontline data tells a confronting story; meth use is more than a big-city issue. The agency says it is seeing higher proportions of meth detections in smaller regions like the Central North, The Lakes and Taranaki.

However, there is no data break down for rural towns. The agency says the issue with getting any more specific with rural data is that it becomes identifiable. Everyone knows who’s testing, who isn’t and what companies they’re using to carry it out.

So, for the farming sector, the days of finding out the level of drug use in their local patch may still be a while away.

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