The high cost of getting high in New Zealand

RNZ News

20-05-2025

After recovering from her own addiction Emily Duncan is now the clinical lead at the Grace Foundation, New Zealand's largest rehabilitation and accommodation service for people released from prison.
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Emily Duncan was just 17 when she had her first hit of meth.
By 21, she was smoking it every day.
"The first hit is the biggest rush anyone will ever get, and then you are always chasing it... and you never actually get that first incredible hit again," she tells The Detail, as news emerges of a growing meth problem in New Zealand.
"I never personally had to buy meth; it was always so easily accessible. I would wake up and my boyfriend would be blowing crack smoke in my face and give me a pipe.
"In fact, I used to use so much throughout the day... I'd be sniffing it, smoking it, drinking it... by the time I was 26, I had infections everywhere, I was vomiting all the time, I was bleeding... I was in and out of hospital, I ODed several times, I was very suicidal."
This is the daughter of missionaries. And this is the reality of meth addiction: it can happen to anyone, from any background.
Once a problem whispered about in city alleyways, methamphetamine is now roaring through the heart of New Zealand - and it is leaving devastation in its wake.
From isolated rural towns to busy suburban neighbourhoods, meth, or "P," is gripping Kiwis in growing numbers.
The latest national wastewater testing results reveal the level of meth consumed has basically doubled in the past six months.
"Everyone and everybody is using it," says Duncan. "It's very easily accessible, it's the cheapest it's ever been.
"Back in the day, in my drug years, I used to mix with professionals, they had good jobs and families, and they were in-the-closet users. Then I lived with people who had no jobs, more gang-associated, you were surrounded by dealers."
Eventually it proved too much for Duncan. When she courted death one too many times, she realised she wanted to live, just not the meth life.
She escaped New Zealand for Australia, went to rehab and turned her life around. She admits the road to recovery was brutal in the early days.
"I was an absolute wreck. I was relieved to get off the hard gear, but my body took six months before I could walk properly, talk properly and gain some weight back. My depression and mood swings were really intense."
She eventually "fell in love with recovery", developed her faith and trained to help others.
"I guess I got high on life. And I then stayed onboard in the recovery sector in Australia, and I stayed there for 10 years, and I ended up helping other people. It gave me purpose."
Duncan is now back in New Zealand, where she is the clinical lead at the Grace Foundation, New Zealand's largest rehabilitation and accommodation service for people released from prison.
She has also just completed her Master of Health Practice in addiction and trauma at Auckland University.
She says more education, more programmes and more funding is needed to reduce meth harm in New Zealand.
Professor Chris Wilkins, a leader in drug research, agrees something needs to be done.
He says the latest Drugs Trends survey has revealed more Kiwis are buying and selling drugs online, using apps like Snapchat and Facebook messenger.
And the use of social media to purchase was seen for all drug options, and had increased across meth, cannabis, cocaine and MDMA users in recent years, in some cases doubling on 2020 numbers.
The survey also revealed that nationally, one third of meth buyers reported purchasing from gangs.
"I think we are in a really dynamic drug supply environment at the moment," Wilkins tells The Detail. "The use of meth is going up and the gram price is going down - about 38 percent over the last five years. We have a massive increase in supply and that is driving the price down."
He says local gangs are developing connections all over the world - not just in Southeast Asia, a "traditional favourite", but also with the Mexican drug cartels who are experts in smuggling and distribution.
He says the drug no longer discriminates and its abuse has flow on effects for communities, with an increase in crime and harm, economic and social deprivation, and unemployment.
Emily Duncan says one thing is clear: the cost of ignoring this crisis is too high, and it is being paid every day by those who can least afford it.
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