WEBVTT - ‘Drug of choice’: NZ meth use hits unprecedented levels 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:06.640 Kiota. 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:09.720 I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:11.920 daily podcast presented by the. 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:13.000 New Zealand Herald. 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:19.120 It'll come as no surprise to anyone when I tell 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:22.480 you that meth is a serious problem in New Zealand. 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:26.360 Wastewater testing results show the consumption of the drug in 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:29.319 New Zealand more than doubled in the second half of 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:30.960 twenty twenty four to the. 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:33.600 Highest levels ever recorded. 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:36.760 At the same time, the New Zealand Drug Trend Survey 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:40.400 twenty twenty four showed the average price of a gram 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:44.120 of meth declined from five hundred and sixty three dollars 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:48.120 in twenty seventeen eighteen to three hundred and sixty dollars 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:53.480 last year. Meanwhile, wastewater testing in Oportiki shows meThe use 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:58.120 there has halved after police raids on an alleged mungol 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:01.440 mob drug ring. Today Day on the Front Page, Harold 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:04.840 investigative reporter Jared Savage is with us to run through 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:14.360 the state of myth in our country. Jared, Look, it 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:17.840 comes as no surprise when we say myth is popular 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:21.160 in New Zealand, but just how prevalent is it? 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:24.440 It's ticking in the number one drug of choice in 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:28.559 New Zealand. It has been for quite some time, about 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:31.520 the past twenty twenty five years or so, but you know, 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:35.240 we've really seen a big surge in the consumption of 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:39.720 myth late last year. So the police and ESR scientists 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:43.520 sort of worked together with wastewater testing, so it gives 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:45.959 sort of it's not the only way of working out 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:48.000 how much myth has been consumed, but it is an 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:52.640 objective scientific measure by which you can sort of see 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:55.400 whether the trend is going up or down. And so 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:58.160 for about the past six years they've been running this 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:02.880 program and sort of use just fluctuated sort of between 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:05.920 ten to twenty kilos per week, and there were some 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:08.520 big sort of factors in the ten kilo at the 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:11.760 lower limit that was when New Zealand was a complete 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:16.120 lockdown during early twenty twenty, and then the peak of 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:19.480 twenty kilos it was about a year later when the 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:21.040 world had opened up a little bit there was a 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:24.440 bit more travel and freight coming back and forth. But 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:27.000 of course Auckland was in lockdown at that point and 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:29.760 there was a lot of people similarly using meth during 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:32.960 that time, and it peaked at about twenty kilos, so 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:35.240 between ten and twenty kilos over the past sort of 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:37.799 six years and normally in the middle of that, sort 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:40.640 of hovering around the sort of the fifteen kilo mark, 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:43.600 and that's where it was in June last year, just 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:49.400 over fifteen kilos, and then from July to December last year, 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:53.160 the wastewater testing showed a huge increase, so going from 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:57.840 fifteen kilos each week to thirty kilos each week for 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:00.240 the second half of last year, and it peaked in 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.959 October with about thirty nine nearly forty kilos of myth 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:08.000 being consumed each and every week last year. So you know, 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:11.079 it's doubled, it's doubled from the peak, and it's doubled 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:13.400 from what has sort of historically been this sort of 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.760 traditional midpoint that we've seen. And it's it's quite an 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:20.280 alarming discovery that we've found through the wastewater data. 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:21.720 What can we put this down to? 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:25.760 Yeah, so it's hard to sort of explain exactly why 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:28.840 why people are consuming more, and there are lots of 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:33.320 reasons that people would use drugs, but it's really comes 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:36.920 out of simple economics. Talking to various researchers and the 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:39.840 police experts as well. Essentially, the world is a wash 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:43.240 with drugs. There is a huge amount being produced overseas 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:46.520 and that has been since to New Zealand an increasingly 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:50.160 large amount. So the market here is saturated. It's been 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:55.240 flooded with metham betamine and other drugs, but mostly metham betamine, 0:03:55.480 --> 0:04:00.080 and that has led to more supply equals cheaper prey 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:04.600 equals more consumption, and that's pretty much what it boils 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:04.920 down to. 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:07.160 Yeah, I was surprised to read somewhere. I think I 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.040 showed the average price of a gram of math declined 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:12.920 from about five hundred and sixty odd dollars in twenty 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:16.599 eighteen to three hundred and sixty last year, So that's 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:17.839 going to have something to do with it. 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:20.320 A So that's right. So that's the you know, that's 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:24.799 that prices come down, and that's those figures come from research. 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:28.279 To my massive University professor Chris Wilkins is the lead 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:31.440 researcher in New Zealand and has done so for twenty years. 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:36.839 And you know they interview anonymously drug users regularly and 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:39.839 that's how they update those figures there. So if it's cheaper, 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.400 you can if you're a user of methanbenaman and it's cheaper. 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:46.160 You can therefore use more of it for the you know, 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:50.440 and not spend any more money. And so that's the 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:53.480 cheaper prices have come from the market being flooded and 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:56.640 more myth being used. Chris Wilkins was interviewed with the 0:04:56.760 --> 0:05:00.880 story and he said all the metrics going in the 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:03.200 wrong direction on this, and he described it as a 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:04.080 wake up call. 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:07.560 Well, we already know that cartels overseas have been eyeing 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:10.680 up New Zealand for years now. Hey, we've got syndicates 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:14.960 based in Southeast Asia and more recently actually the Mexican cartels. 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:20.120 Just in November, a Columbia led global operation thwarted the 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:25.200 plans of six subs carrying fourteen hundred tons of drugs, 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:28.160 one of which was headed to Australia and New Zealand. 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:37.200 The Columbian Navy says it's intercepted a Narco submarine bound 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:41.080 for Australia. Official say it's the third such vessel ceased, 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:45.000 indicating a drug smuggling route across the Pacific. 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:50.960 A coordinated effort in the multinational orient Strategy led to 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:55.640 the seizure of over fourteen hundred tons of narcotic substances. 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:59.280 Of these, two hundred and twenty five tons of cocaine 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:02.840 stood out, which would represent more than five hundred and 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:05.480 seventy four million doses on our streets. 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:09.839 Now that's huge. 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:13.520 So no cartel would risk the capture of that larger 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:16.880 shipment of drugs if it didn't think the risk was 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:17.960 worth the reward. 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:19.520 Hey, well that's right. 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:21.440 And I mean in New Zealand for a long time, 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:24.320 we are a small We're a small market, you know, 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:26.120 compared to the rest of the world. But a lot 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:29.560 of these organizations see sort of Australia and New Zealand 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:32.360 together as sort of a one to a one two stop. 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:35.599 So obviously our big brother across the tasmin much bigger market, 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:38.640 but also commands quite high prices. So even though the 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:42.560 prices have come down in New Zealand, it's still high 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:46.800 by comparison internationally. So it's a small market but seen 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.200 as lucrative. So that is why we're being targeted by 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:54.479 Mexican CATAUS Southeast Asian organized crime groups who work candy 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:57.760 glove here with sort of organized crime figures here, including 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:01.040 sort of the outlaw motorcycle groups you know, in particular 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:03.159 sort of you know, the common Cero's and some of 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:06.440 those other five x one gangs that have really elevated 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:10.240 that they've got true international connections with these groups overseas, 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:14.200 and that's elevated the supply and that's led to what 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:17.800 we're seeing here with with far greater consumption. Literally the 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:19.080 figure is doubling last year. 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:21.840 Now you mentioned these cartels work hand in hand with 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:24.800 local gangs. Here, tell me a little bit about a Portaki. 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:28.240 Yeah, so a Portoki is a small town in Easter 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:31.080 made plenty and last year sort of garnered a few 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:33.200 headlines because there was quite a big drug bus down 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:38.000 there involving the mongrel mob. And I don't think they 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:40.880 would have been working hand in glove with the cartels, 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:43.560 but somewhere along the supply chain that that myth had 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:47.360 been getting into a poto Key. And like many smaller 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:50.000 real towns around around the country, they are sort of 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:54.000 disproportionately affected by methan betamine. Their sort of average per 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:57.679 capita consumption is often far greater than the national average. 0:07:57.720 --> 0:07:59.800 So you know, there's some big headlines last year about 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:03.120 this this raid, these raids, this COVID investigation called Operation 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:06.360 high water in a podoquy, and that led about twenty 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:09.600 odd members of the Mong the Barbarians Chapter and their 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:14.000 associates being being arrested and charged with various drug dealing 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:17.080 and money laundering offenses. Now that's all before the courts 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:19.480 and you know, yet to be proven. But what the 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:23.200 wastewater shows is that after those raids was a dramatic 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:27.680 decrease in methectomy consumption and a podokey. So I think 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:29.920 in the month leading up to the raids it was 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:33.280 around about one hundred and nineteen grands per week was 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:35.480 being consumed in a podige, which is a bear in 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:38.440 mind a small town of about five or six thousand people. 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:42.200 Following month that dropped down to sixty six grands, so 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:45.600 nearly hard So whilst the rest of the country was 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:49.480 going up, a podokey went down following the raids, and 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:52.360 then the next month that went down again to fifty 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:54.480 four grands a week, again while the rest of the 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:58.240 country went up. And so you know that indicates that 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:02.000 sort of strong and fours does have an impact in 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:04.839 terms of in terms of consumption because obviously they're cutting 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:08.199 off the supply or the major supply into the town 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:11.120 because members of the Munger Mob and at the same time, 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:13.199 the police are also kind of being that. They run 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:16.319 a program called the Revilliance to Organize Crime and Community. 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:19.840 So that's it's called ROCK ROCC and that's where like 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:22.440 dedicated police stuff sort of work hand in hand with 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:26.120 community community leaders and NGOs and EWE to sort of 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:29.360 support sort of meth harm production program. So they'll go 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:32.480 and do a big raide, you know, and years gone by, 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:35.120 you know, the police would that was their job. They 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:37.560 would go and do that and sort of walk away 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:40.440 to the to the next, to the next operation. In 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:43.000 this case, they're working in there with with local families 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:45.720 to make sure that you know, they're getting food on 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:48.000 the table, getting their kids to school, getting how it 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:51.719 preferred into the meth amphetames, sort of education programs and 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:55.800 rehab that that kind of work there on the head 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:58.320 of the Rock Program. Infected Jock o Keep said it's 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.600 been about seven hundred and twenty thousand and funding been 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:04.520 guarded to sort of keep supporting the work that the 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:10.600 local groups, the local community leaders and ewi's are already doing. So, yeah, 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:25.400 there is a glimmer of hope out there, and of. 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:27.120 Course at the borders as well. 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:32.840 They're ramping up looking for these importations of drugs. And 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:35.559 when I think about recent history that there've been some 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:39.360 pretty big busts. I'm thinking over the last five six years. 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.440 He oh, absolutely every year there seems to be another 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:45.560 record breaking drug bust. I mean I've been reporting on 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:49.959 this these issues about fifteen years. Back then, one kilo 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:53.560 was quite a quite a big deal. The record back 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:56.280 then and for many years was back in two thousand 0:10:56.280 --> 0:11:00.440 and six was ninety five kilos of methamphetamine coming in 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:03.160 from China. That was a huge deal. It was seen 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:05.680 as an outlier for about ten years, and then we 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:08.000 saw five hundred and one kilos sort of wash up 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.160 on the beach that famous case Operation Frontier up in Northland. 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:14.960 And then from then, I mean now five hundred kilo 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:20.360 stezias are almost routine. So certainly one hundred kilos is 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:22.840 a routine now and so we're seeing four or five, 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:25.600 six hundred. I think the biggest at the border Caesar 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:28.319 is about seven hundred and thirteen kilos that was hidden 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:32.359 inside maple syrup bottles which had been imported from Canada. 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:35.280 Although it's I guess it's suspected that the myth would 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:39.079 have been transshipped from Mexico up to Canada and then 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:41.880 to New Zealand where it was caught. So we are 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:45.760 seeing huge, huge amounts of you know, busts happening every year, 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:47.960 I guess, And people might look at that and go, oh, 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:50.760 that's great, we're catching more. Well, I think the opposite 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.880 is true. We're catching these bigger amounts because more is 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:57.000 being seent here and that sort of you know, and 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:59.440 that has been sort of born out in the wastewater 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:02.120 of data that we seeing where we're stopping more than 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:04.679 ever at the border, but we are consuming way more 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:07.480 than ever, And I guess that shows how saturated the 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:08.240 market really is. 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:10.800 Yeah, and criminals can get really tricky in how they 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:13.720 try and conceal these drugs as well. I remember once 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:17.160 heading to customs and actually seeing the myth that was 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:21.080 concealed inside batteries of these golf carts that were being 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:22.240 imported from the US. 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:23.840 I think that was about twenty nineteen. 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:27.560 So what are some of the strangest ways you've seen 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:29.440 meth trying to be concealed? 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:31.120 I mean, maple syrup's got to be one of them. 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:34.720 Oh, look, there. You know, there are so many ways 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:39.559 to conceal myth or other drugs. Honestly, the mind boggles 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:42.080 at how many there have been. It's almost only limited 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:46.600 by your imagination. Probably the best concealment I've seen was 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:51.600 where myth was mixed in with like a concrete like 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:55.840 substance and then poured into an umbrella stand. So they 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:59.480 were being imported in the country as umbrella stands, and 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:02.280 the organized crime Syndicate it had sent people to New 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:07.520 Zealand set up these businesses to import umbrella stands amongst 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.160 other furniture, and when it got here, they were then 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:13.240 breaking up the umbrella stands with you know, drills and 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:15.560 hammers and bits and pieces, and then running it through 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:19.440 a fairly complicated sort of process to break it back 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:21.960 down into myth and then being sold. I think it 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:24.640 was about one hundred and eighty kilos or something. It 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:27.800 was a big amount, But that's probably the best concealment 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.840 I've seen. But I mean, of course, another trend that 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:33.840 we've seen of later is organized crime groups not even 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:36.880 needing to hide or conceal the myth anymore. You know, 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:39.880 there's been some quite well documented cases of corruption within 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:42.600 the airports and at the port of Auckland, the port 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:46.920 of Turnongar, where you know, these prime groups and outlaw 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:51.600 motorcycle gangs have insiders working there. Cramped insiders who are 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:55.800 you know, are paid to essentially facilitate the smuggling of 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:58.600 the drugs straight in. And often the drugs aren't even hidden, 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:01.360 they're just sort of boxed up normal cardboard boxers. But 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:04.160 if you've got someone in there who can move things 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:07.320 around and get it out of the warehouse before it 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:09.520 can be checked and so on, they're no one is 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:11.760 having a door into the country. And it's often as 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:13.080 simple as that for these groups. 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:15.840 And we often talk about math, but also I see 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:18.600 that the cocaine has had an uplift in use in 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:22.320 this country. The latest NZED health survey noted there was 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.480 an increasing availability of cocaine in New Zealand. 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:28.560 It found an increase in the number of users. Two 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:29.520 point four. 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:33.880 Percent of adults used cocaine in the past year. Historically 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:37.520 that figure has been around zero point five percent. 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:40.280 Of the population. So are we seeing more cocaine get 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:41.000 through as well? 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:45.200 Yes, we are in a big proportional increase, but still 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:47.760 small compared to myth but I mean, cocaine has been 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:50.440 on the rise here the last few years. I mean, 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:53.240 I guess it doesn't have quite the same stigma as myth. 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:55.480 That's probably seen as a bit more of a white 0:14:55.520 --> 0:15:00.360 collar party drug, but sexier perhaps in those circles. And 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:04.280 that's the myth is coming through in the same supply pipelines, 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:07.280 So the cocaine is coming through the same supply pipelines 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:10.000 as meth and beeta means obviously cocaine comes from South 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:13.760 America through Mexico, with the same kind of cartels there 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:16.760 bringing it in and supplying it here to the outlaw 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:20.400 motorcycle gangs and many of whom had the origins in Australia, 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:23.280 where cocaine is a much bigger market, so they're kind 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:26.880 of bringing in the cocaine and trying to establish the 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:30.200 market here. It has grown from a small base in 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:32.960 the last few years, and we've definitely seen that more 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:35.680 and more. I mean, you know, again HARKing back showing 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:38.480 my age here, but HARKing back set of fifteen years ago, 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:41.920 cocaine was a very tiny amount and we're now seeing 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:46.880 some quite large shipments coming into New Zealand, often rivaling 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:49.440 the size of some of the meth some of the 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:51.840 meath shipments that we're having though the suspicion is is 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:54.720 that a big chunk of those cocaine shipments coming here 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:57.080 to New Zealand have then been transshipped to the bigger 0:15:57.120 --> 0:16:00.080 market in Australia as well. So it's all part of 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:04.480 the same organized crime ecosystem that we're seeing with methban pedimen. 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:11.560 This type of offending is not new globally. We known 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:14.040 about it, We've seen it before in New Zealand, we've 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:16.480 seen it in this operation and we will see it again. 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:20.680 To defeat this, we've got to look at our engagement 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:24.880 internationally in challenge and sharing that we're doing with our partners, 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:28.480 for example home Land Security Investigations who are looking at 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:31.400 the other end of this investigation, to look at both 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:37.240 ends of this. The overarching commitment we've got in an 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:40.480 ever changing risk environment is this is not just a 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:43.880 law enforcement problem. We are reaching out to our industry 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:47.600 partners to make sure that they have the tools and 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:51.720 the information available to them to also strengthen the supply chain. 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:56.680 And you've spoken to authorities about this, I mean, what 0:16:56.800 --> 0:16:59.160 do they say. They must just feel like they're drowning. 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:00.880 Do we just have to hope, hope that they're just 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:02.040 keeping on top of it all. 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:05.320 Yeah, I mean I think they're definitely. The police and 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:08.040 customers at times probably definitely feel like they're the little 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:11.840 boy with his finger in the dike holding back the dam. 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:14.879 You know, this is a huge problem, and not just 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:18.040 a New Zealand, but around the world. Everyone is on 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:22.320 the same page that really. Whilst law enforcements still needs 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:24.280 to be tackling the high ends, you know, the high 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:26.600 end suppliers, and obviously a lot of money can be 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:31.040 made from them, so tackling those high end suppliers must continue. 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:32.840 But like you know, you take out it, you take 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:36.440 out a crime syndicate, well somebody else will replace them 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:39.280 and sort of fill that vacuum quite quickly. So I 0:17:39.320 --> 0:17:41.600 mean everyone's on the same sort of page. Around We 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:44.080 need to be tacking the demand for drugs as well, 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:47.920 and a lot of that comes back to treating meth 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:51.000 using and meth addiction in particular as a health issue, 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:53.480 not necessarily locking people up, but sort of referring them 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:56.199 into health programs to sort of get the help and 0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:59.359 the counseling that they need, but also probably far greater 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:04.760 education amongst children basically not just teenagers, but children around 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:07.880 the harm that can be caused by METAM better mean 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:11.400 and particular and really getting into that sort of prevention space, 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:14.800 we would need far more sort of resources being put 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:18.240 into that. At the moment in comparison, it would be 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:20.879 a bit of a drop in the bucket. So yeah, 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:23.960 there's no solution to this. And I don't think there's always 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:26.639 going to be a demand well drugs and there's always 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:29.000 going to be people wanting to make money from supplying them, 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:32.640 so keeping that high in enforcement is crucial. But yeah, 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:36.080 far more money needs to be sort of directed towards 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:41.480 health and education programs, particularly in the smaller rural communities 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:43.760 that you know, further further away from the big centers 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:49.080 where you might have more sort of drug rehab help available. 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:51.560 And it's often the smaller towns that they are the 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:53.320 ones getting the hit the hardest. 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:56.440 Thanks for joining us, Jared Pleasure as always. 0:18:56.119 --> 0:19:00.000 No problem. 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:03.280 That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:07.119 can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:11.159 at enzedherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:14.960 produced by Ethan Sills and Richard Martin, who is also 0:19:15.119 --> 0:19:16.200 our sound engineer. 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:18.159 I'm Chelsea Daniels. 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:21.919 Subscribe to the front page on iHeartRadio or wherever you 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:22.960 get your podcasts 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:27.080 And tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.