Methamphetamine use had increased significantly and meth seized in New Zealand and offshore had increased by 266 percent over the past five years. Photo: Supplied / Customs
There is widespread support for the government's new action plan to combat methamphetamine use, with the Drug Foundation commending its "health-focused interventions".
A mental wellness provider from Northland is also welcoming the news, saying it's a "fantastic start", and the chairperson of the Ministerial Advisory Group on Transnational and Organised Crime saying it was positive that multiple ministers were involved in order to address the issue in its "totality".
On Sunday, the government announced what Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith called a "comprehensive action plan to combat methamphetamine harm in New Zealand".
It is the result of the prime minister's 'meth sprint team' made up of the ministers for justice, police, customs, courts and mental health, who were tasked with tackling the issue.
That came after a drastic rise in consumption of methamphetamine last year. RNZ investigated what community providers needed in response, which was largely more funding for grassroots solutions.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Morning Report it was the first time "we are seeing very heavy introduction of meth into this part of the world".
It was coming from North American drug cartels who saw the New Zealand market as more attractive given the higher price of the drug.
"I think every family has had a family member or friend impacted by the ravaging effects of meth and we just want to be able to talk about meth-related harm but we also want to make sure that we're supporting and adding extra money into our addiction services as well."
Not only was meth a big issue in New Zealand and Australia, but also in Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, Luxon said.
New Zealand agencies needed to work better with its partners with more sophisticated intelligence and resources to tackle the issue, he said.
On Sunday, Goldsmith said methamphetamine was something "we've been fighting for 20 years, and it's been getting worse in the last little while".
"We know that meth is a scourge on society."
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said the government's plan would help combat an increase in methamphetamine harm in New Zealand. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
He pointed to parts of New Zealand who had been particularly affected, like Northland, where "communities have been blighted by meth".
"Those communities are desperate for us to fight back, and that's why we're taking these extra steps to turn up the dial of our response."
The response included a nationwide media campaign that will launch in the next few months, paid for by the proceeds of crime fund, that will raise awareness about the issue and the drugs harm.
An extra $30 million over four years from the mental health and addiction budget will go to front-line services, increasing the services available to the hardest-hit communities.
Police will be able to intercept communications and search for electronically stored evidence with new enforcement powers, and an additional anti-money laundering unit will be set up.
It will also see more focus on disrupting supply chains in the Pacific Ocean, with Customs, the GCSB and the Defence Force conducting a series of maritime operations. There would also be consultation on strengthening border security.
Customs Minister Casey Costello said there was "a lot of risk" through South East Asia and South America, "but we are getting intercepts from all over the place".
"We just had an arrest last weekend at the airport, 30 kilos of meth from citizens from the US trying to bring methamphetamine into the country.
"So it is coming at us from everywhere and we just need to be tighter across all of it."
RNZ spoke to providers in Northland earlier this year about the spike in consumption.
Rākau Ora managing director Vanessa Kite told RNZ following the announcement she "absolutely" welcomed it.
"I don't think we'll ever have enough bloody money, to be honest. But right now it's a fantastic start."
She said the need was "huge" in Te Tai Tokerau, and it was "growing in a different way", with younger people affected and more complex cases presenting.
What was required to tackle it was "long-term" and "sustained" investment, rather than the short term boosts they would been getting, she said.
Kite welcomed the focus on meth as a social health issue, rather than an enforcement one.
"Prevention is everything," she said. "We really need to be putting a lot of money into prevention, but also, education, support and connections."
She suggested what was needed was more detox beds, and residential rehab options. She also wanted to see more focus on lived experience community providers.
"We're often seen as the first port of call and the priority in meth help, and we're paid the worst. In fact, many are doing voluntary work."
Kite said at a community and grassroots level, she believed they had the solutions, "we just need the support to scale them up".
New Zealand Drug Foundation executive director Sarah Helm said she was "particularly pleased" with the health-focused interventions.
"It's good to see some emphasis on health approaches and additional investment that's being made, because we know we can't arrest our way out of the issue."
What was needed, Helm said, was treatment and assistance both earlier on in somebody's journey, but also closer and more accessible to their lives.
She said it was not about waiting until somebody was experiencing the worst harms before they are offered help.
In order for the nationwide campaign to be effective, it would need to focus on destigmatisation, and promote the option of seeking help, she said.
"Those communities who already experience the worst methamphetamine harms already know how negative the impact can be.
"So really grounding that campaign in what they're experiencing and helping them to get information and support quickly will make that as effective as it possibly can be."
Ministerial Advisory Group on Transnational and Organised Crime chairperson Steve Symon told RNZ many of the planned actions were consistent with the recommendations made in the MAG's reports.
Overall, he said the announcement is great, provided it is part of the solution to organised crime, not the whole solution.
"Methamphetamine is certainly an important issue, but it's a subset of the bigger organised crime issue."
The focus on health was also welcomed, because "as we've said in the reports, we don't think locking people up is necessarily the solution", Symon said.
The government should be tough on those committing this crime and addressing that, but it was not the only way to deal with it.
Looking at cutting off the supply coming into the country was important too, as well as "working on our customer base", he said, "working on how many New Zealanders are willing to consume these drugs".
The coalition government parties had campaigned on being "tough on organised crime", he said, and it was about understanding "what tough means".
"It's not just building more prisons and locking more people up.
"It's certainly locking those up who need to be locked up because of the crimes that they've committed, but it's also looking the broader social problem of how our country has been willing to consume twice as much methamphetamine as we did last year."
Symon suggested being tough on crime could be possible by removing the customer base.
Ultimately though, what was missing was the coordination to pull it all together, "how to be accountable", he said, which was why the MAG had recommended a single minister in charge of responding to organised crime.
But he thought it was possible multiple ministers had come together to look at the issue of meth.
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