![\"Flo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4JI5SGG_Meth_announce_2_jfif.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nThe government has launched a deliberately provocative anti-meth campaign with a blunt message – “F. Meth” – after an earlier effort fell flat.<\/p>\n
The slogan has intentionally been left open to interpretation, with officials suggesting meanings including fight meth, face meth, forget meth or be free from meth.<\/p>\n
But for some with lived experience of the drug, the message is more explicit: f*** meth.<\/p>\n
Community advocate Tee Tanielu is one of the faces of the campaign, alongside her partner Flo Murray.<\/p>\n
Speaking to RNZ at the launch in Porirua on Thursday morning, Tanielu picked a more complicated word: “forgive”.<\/p>\n
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Flo Murray (L) and Tee Tanielu (R) with their child (centre)<\/p>\n
Craig McCulloch\/RNZ<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
She paused before adding: “And just f*** meth too… that as well. Just f*** meth!”<\/p>\n
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey was also unapologetic about the branding.<\/p>\n
“Meth is provocative, right? We’ve got to meet it head on.”<\/p>\n
The $1.6 million campaign – which will run across multiple platforms – will be funded from the Proceeds of Crime Fund.<\/p>\n
![\"One](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4JI5SGG_Meth_announce_4_jfif.jpeg\")
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One of the campaign posters.<\/p>\n
Craig McCulloch\/RNZ<\/p>\n
The Herald previously reported that an earlier $100,000 test video had “low engagement” on social media with an average view time of just two seconds.<\/p>\n
But Doocey said the new phase had been tested in focus groups and shaped with feedback from people who had used meth and those working on the frontline.<\/p>\n
“We wanted to know what will connect with them, what will get the cut-through.”<\/p>\n
He said the campaign would be evaluated after six months and tested against a target of reaching 2.5 million New Zealanders aged 18 to 59, as well as whether they remembered the message or sought help.<\/p>\n
“It creates hope. It’s planting seeds”<\/p>\n
Also at the launch, addiction counsellor Michael Hogan told RNZ he first used the drug in a pub in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
“I used to have a few beers on the weekend. Typical Kiwi bloke,” he said. “I didn’t know what I was getting involved in.”<\/p>\n
![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4JI5SGG_Meth_announce_3_jfif.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Michael Hogan<\/p>\n
Craig McCulloch\/RNZ<\/p>\n
His meth use escalated. Hogan said he lost the respect of his children, sold his house and became a low-level drug dealer.<\/p>\n
“Hated myself, loathed myself. Lost respect for who I was,” he said. “I’d lost all control.”<\/p>\n
Hogan eventually spent two years in residential treatment and is now 15 years free from meth.<\/p>\n
He hoped a campaign as blunt as F. Meth might reach someone before their life unravelled – or at least give them a reason to think about getting out.<\/p>\n
“It’s normalising recovery. It creates hope. It’s planting seeds.”<\/p>\n
But Hogan stressed advertising alone would not fix the problem.<\/p>\n
“We’re bandaiding a lot,” he said. “We need more rehabs. We need to get some education into our youth.”<\/p>\n