The Corrections Minister has told Parliament that the level of drug use in prisons has dropped over recent months.
Judith Collins is putting the reduction down to new legislation allowing the monitoring of prisoners' mail and phone calls, which she says has led to more effective targeting of drug smugglers.
Ms Collins says random drug-testing over the past nine months indicates that the level of drug use has dropped to its lowest level since 1998.
She says two prisons have had no positive results at all so far this year - Auckland Region Women's Corrections Facility and Christchurch Women's Prison.
