APSAD 2025

Tuari Potiki, NZ Drug Foundation/te Rau Ora

Tuari Potiki (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe, Waitaha) is a leading voice for Māori drug harm reduction, with more than 30 years’ experience across mental health, addiction, and wellbeing. He combines lived experience of substance use and recovery with expertise in policy, workforce development, and service design. Currently Chair of the New Zealand Drug Foundation and Whare Tukutuku – the National Māori Harm Reduction Centre – Tuari also serves on the Boards of Te Rau Ora and the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission. He has been instrumental in pioneering Māori-led approaches to care, including the first Methadone Whānau Māori Clinic.

On the international stage, he is a founding member of the International Indigenous Drug Policy Alliance and has addressed the United Nations on ending the “war on drugs.” Tuari’s leadership is defined by manaaki, advocacy, and a commitment to ensuring Māori voices and solutions are at the forefront of drug policy and harm reduction.

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APSAD acknowledges that the conference is being held on the traditional lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s continuing connection to land, water, and community and we pay our respects to Elders past and present. APSAD acknowledges Sovereignty in this country has never been ceded. It always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.