The policy grew from a commitment made in 1994 by former Health Minister and current Prime Minister Jenny Shipley and was one of the five parts of the government's national mental health strategy. The Cabinet received a draft national policy on tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs in May 1996 and directed officials to prepare the policy as one policy on tobacco and alcohol and a separate policy on illicit drugs and other drugs. The government reached consensus and released the policy on tobacco and alcohol relatively quickly. The drug policy required several revisions over almost 2 years. The drug policy charts the course for the New Zealand public sector for the next 5 years and states the goal of harm minimization. The five national priorities for action include enabling New Zealanders to improve their health by limiting the harms of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs; reducing tobacco smoking and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke; reducing hazardous and excessive alcohol consumption and its negative consequences; reducing the use of marijuana and other illicit drugs; and reducing harms from drug use. Major achievements since the policy's release include the establishment of a two-tier monitoring and implementation structure and the release of the policy's first interagency work program. 19 references