Two out of five clients asking for help with peptides, needle exchange, agency says

The operators of a needle exchange programme say two out of every five clients is asking for help with peptides.

Health NZ says it has distributed 2300 peptide injecting kits through the programme since mid-September.

A black market for unapproved peptides, mostly for weight loss or performance enhancement, has taken hold in New Zealand as many Kiwis find approved drugs like Wegovy too expensive.

The Aotaroa Drug Information Outreach Trust is one of the organisations contracted to manage the needle exchange programme, and provides the service for most of the upper and central North Island.

Chief executive Dr Lesley McTurk has seen a surge in new users.

"Our more traditional clients, who would be injecting psychoactive drugs, would've comprised 85 to 90 percent of our clients," she said, noting that the remaining 10 percent tended to be steroid users.

"These peptide clients [have become] around 40 percent, so yes there's been a big increase."

McTurk said it wasn't for her to say whether that was cause for alarm.

"The purpose of the needle exchange programme is to reduce the spread of bloodborne viruses amongst people who inject drugs, our kaupapa is all about harm reduction and we don't judge the people that come to us," she said.

"We take a very strong line on neither condoning nor condemning the use of drugs."

Her focus was on providing clean needles and good advice.

"Making sure the site is clean, how to dispose of the needles, [warning them] not to use tap water, to use sterile water so they're not getting bacteria into the injection, that's the sort of advice we give them," she said.

Peptides were injected subcutaneously, meaning the needles were short and only needed to pierce skin and fat, rather than a vein.

"It's not a particularly difficult injection to give yourself. Diabetics, for example, do this daily. It's a lot more straightforward than doing an intravenous injection, but it still poses some risks, risks of infection, so we want people to know how to do it safely," McTurk said.

A spokesperson for Customs said staff worked closely with Medsafe to identify unapproved peptides crossing the border.

"When goods that are located require a prescription or are classified as a medication, as in the case of several peptides, they will be referred to Medsafe," they said.

"As a general reminder to the public, Customs urges that consumers check if a prescription is required before purchasing items from overseas or online websites. Products imported without authorisation may be seized at the border."