The Government has launched a $1.6 million anti-methamphetamine campaign called F. Meth, a deliberately blunt second attempt at reaching New Zealanders before they start using the drug, after its first round of prevention videos failed to hold viewers’ attention.
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey launched the campaign in Porirua on Thursday morning, 17 September. It will run nationally for six months across social media, online video, digital screens, posters, radio, digital audio and community channels, and is expected to reach more than 2.5 million people, according to the Minister’s statement.
The $1.584 million cost is being met from the Proceeds of Crime Fund, which holds money and assets seized from criminals. The campaign will be evaluated before any wider rollout.
Officials have left the “F” open. In his statement Doocey said “The ‘F’ is a play on words and will have a range of meanings to different people and communities, including face meth, fight meth, forget meth or be free from meth harm.”
Asked by RNZ whether the letter was meant to stand for the obvious swear word, he replied, as reported by the Otago Daily Times, “It’s supposed to make people think.”
He was unapologetic about the provocative branding when speaking to RNZ at the launch. “Meth is provocative, right? We’ve got to meet it head on.”
The new campaign follows a first phase that did not land. The NZ Herald reported that the average viewing time of the earlier social media video, titled “How meth addiction works”, was two seconds. A February aide-memoire from the Ministry of Justice, quoted by the Herald, said “Low engagement and early drop-off suggest most did not find the phase one content relevant.”
Doocey told RNZ the new phase had been tested with focus groups and shaped by feedback from people who had used meth and from frontline workers. “We wanted to know what will connect with them, what will get the cut-through,” he said.
The second phase is built around three videos, which the Herald said avoid the confrontational content that appeared to put many viewers off the first time. One tells the story of community advocate Tee Tanielu and her partner Flo Murray, who are among the faces of the campaign.
In the video Tanielu says “Meth was my best friend. Meth was my secret lover.” Speaking to RNZ at the launch, she described her own path this way. “For a lot of us, including myself, meth wasn’t the problem; it was the solution. And so, sometimes we have to move past what it did in order to finally get to why we used it.”
Addiction counsellor Michael Hogan, also at the launch, told RNZ he first used meth in a pub in the 1990s. He said his use escalated until he sold his house and became a low-level dealer. After two years in residential treatment he has now been free of the drug for 15 years.
Hogan hoped a campaign as blunt as this one might reach someone before their life unravelled. “It’s normalising recovery. It creates hope. It’s planting seeds,” he said. But he warned that advertising alone would not solve the problem. “We’re bandaiding a lot,” he said. “We need more rehabs. We need to get some education into our youth.”
The campaign is aimed mainly at people who are around meth and may be tempted to try it. Doocey pointed to survey evidence that the drug reaches well beyond a small group of users. “A 2026 survey showed that over one-third of respondents personally know someone who has used meth,” he said.
Police wastewater testing, which covers almost 80 percent of the population, shows how much meth New Zealanders have been using. The latest quarterly report, published this month, found use averaged an estimated 33.3 kilograms a week between April and June 2026. That was in line with the average over the previous four quarters and is estimated to cause $34.9 million in social harm every week.
Police said an exceptionally high reading in April pushed up the quarter’s average, despite lower levels in May and June, and most districts recorded below-average use. The Herald reported that weekly consumption fell further in July to 26.1 kilograms, the lowest level since June 2025. It noted that consumption has risen every July in recent years, so the drop might point to a change in trend, although use has stayed elevated since surging in mid-2024.
F. Meth is one piece of a $30.6 million health-led package the Government announced in November 2025. Earlier this month Doocey said new and expanded treatment and recovery services had started in Kaitaia, Kaikohe, Wairoa and Invercargill, with 10.6 extra full-time frontline workers employed. Clinical treatment services are planned for Kaikohe and Wairoa in the coming months, with more peer support, treatment and family services to follow in Rotorua, Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay.
The package also extends Tūturu, a school-based programme that teaches young people about the risks of drugs, into Northland, Rotorua and Tairāwhiti. Pou Whānau Navigators, workers who help people and their families find their way through the health and addiction system, are also part of the response.
Doocey was careful not to oversell the advertising in his statement. “This campaign is not the whole response to meth harm. It is one prevention tool within a much wider health response,” he said.
The Government’s statement cited a methamphetamine campaign in Los Angeles County as evidence that well-targeted advertising can work. It said that campaign reached nearly 70 percent of high-risk areas, with 84 percent of people saying they were aware of it. Whether F. Meth does better than its two-second predecessor will be known when the six-month evaluation is done, measured against the 2.5 million target and whether people remember the message or go on to seek help.
Anyone worried about their own drug use, or a friend’s or family member’s, can call the Alcohol Drug Helpline free on 0800 787 797.
Will a blunt slogan reach people that earlier campaigns missed, or should the money go straight into treatment? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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