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Speaker 1: Drug use has skyrocketed in the last few months. The

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Speaker 1: latest wastewater samples in quarter three of this year show

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Speaker 1: that New Zealand is using more than twice as much

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Speaker 1: meth as the same time last year, so it's more

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Speaker 1: than doubled and cocaine use is also at an all

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Speaker 1: time high. Drug Foundation Executive director Sarah Halbers with US morning.

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Speaker 2: Sarah, good morning.

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Speaker 1: What's happened? Why are more Is it a case of

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Speaker 1: more people using the drugs or the same number of

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Speaker 1: people using more of the drugs.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, with cocaine we have had an uncreasse and then

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Speaker 2: number of people consuming it. But with messamphetamine, we don't

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Speaker 2: believe that has been the case. So we obviously the

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Speaker 2: wastewater only tells us how much has been consumed. We

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Speaker 2: have to look at other data sources and our own

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Speaker 2: networks and what we're anecdotally hearing hasn't been a growth

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Speaker 2: in the number of people consuming this. So this is

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Speaker 2: a small number of people potentially consuming a lot more

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Speaker 2: of it.

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Speaker 1: Well, I mean, if you've got the same number of

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Speaker 1: people doubling their use, that means some people are going

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Speaker 1: to get very sick, doesn't it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we are really considered that we'll be saying very

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Speaker 2: acute harms, hospitalized sessions, psychosis, heart health issues, and a

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Speaker 2: growth of addiction. Both of these substances represent our more

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Speaker 2: sort of harmful and addictive end of the spectrum.

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Speaker 1: Why is this happening, Sarah, because I would have thought

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Speaker 1: that in a recession, actually we can't afford as much,

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Speaker 1: so drug you should go down, shouldn't it.

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Speaker 2: Oh? Well, two things. There's been a massive increase in

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Speaker 2: global supply, particularly in cocaine. They've gone a lot better

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Speaker 2: at producing cocaine as a way of getting around our

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Speaker 2: sort of bann and police approach. And with them better

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Speaker 2: men understand. There's more supply chains and unlike other markets,

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Speaker 2: we seeing prices reduice and actually there's a wed thing

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Speaker 2: that can happen. I mean, I'm drawing some conclusions here,

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Speaker 2: but with them betterment suppresses appetite. So also you know,

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Speaker 2: for people lower struggling, that actually might have a reverse

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Speaker 2: impact you all.

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Speaker 1: Right, Hey, Sarah, Thanks very much, Sarah Helm, Drug Foundation

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Speaker 1: Executive Director. For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen

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Speaker 1: live to news Talks at b from six am weekdays,

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