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Newsroom
21-05-2025
- Health
- Newsroom
The high cost of getting high in New Zealand
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 OD'd 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 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 on board 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's the clinical lead at the Grace Foundation, New Zealand's largest rehabilitation and accommodation service for people released from prison. She's 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, a 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's being paid every day by those who can least afford it. Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here. You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter.
RNZ News
20-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
The high cost of getting high in New Zealand
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. Photo: Supplied 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. Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
NZ Herald
04-05-2025
- Health
- NZ Herald
Northland's meth crisis: ‘There's no magic wand for any of this'
Tia Ashby heads Te Hau Ora o Ngāpuhi, a Kaikohe-based iwi organisation that provides housing, health services and programmes like Paiheretia, which helps men caught up in the Corrections system. She said the meth crisis was 'real, complex and growing'. 'We see the daily toll it takes on whānau, on their wairua, their homes and their hope. We do what we can, but the reality is, the demand is outpacing our capacity. 'We're just not funded at the scale needed to respond to the tsunami of need we are facing.' Jade and Scott — they did not want to give their last names, because their work brings them into contact with organised crime — are employed by Te Hau Ora o Ngāpuhi as kaiarataki, or navigators, helping meth addicts and their whānau get the help they need. Jade said the problem was getting worse, and the money spent on drugs meant other family members missed out on essentials. 'The biggest thing that we see is the effect on the kids, on the mokos. You've got whānau that are going without kai, the living conditions can be appalling. It's a real pandemic, you could call it, and has some real atrocious effects.' Scott said the men they helped came with a whole raft of problems, including homelessness, poor health, mental distress, and crime. But when they burrowed deeper, they often found the underlying cause was meth. Scott said there were many reasons behind the drug's prevalence. 'Obviously, the cost of living out there. High unemployment. And people's trauma as well. It's about unpacking it all to find out why people are addicted to methamphetamine. It ruins households, it ruins families, it ruins communities, it brings crime. Nothing will ever end good unless people stop taking it.' Ashby said the Government's Resilience to Organised Crime in Communities ROCC programme, which had so far been rolled out in seven regions across New Zealand, was a good start. Although still in its early stages, ROCC aimed to stop people becoming addicted in the first place. 'It will build up resilience within whānau and prevent rangatahi [youth] from ever wanting to pick up the pipe, by making sure they're on the right pathway for education or employment, and not being led by gangs,' Ashby said. 'The focus needs to be upstream, we don't want to be the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff all the time. But the reality is, those who have addiction need support now. There's no magic wand for any of this.' While ROCC was 'a step in the right direction', more and sustainable investment in prevention was needed. Also desperately needed was comprehensive, culturally responsive residential treatment in mid-Northland for people who wanted to come off drugs. Currently, most providers of those services, such as Grace Foundation and Higher Ground, were based in Auckland. Ashby said everyone would have to work together to tackle the meth conundrum. Police, MSD, iwi, Māori providers and local services such as Whakaoranga Whānau Recovery Hub were doing their best with the resources they had, she said. 'But without the right tools, good intentions can only go so far. It's time to match the scale of the response with the scale of the need.' While the meth problem was not new, it hit headlines last month when Ngāpuhi chairman Mane Tahere made a public call for more policing and direct funding for iwi organisations whose work was slowed by government red tape. Northland MP Grant McCallum subsequently met Tahere and Far North Mayor Moko Tepania, who lives in Kaikohe, as well as staff at the local medical centre. He was shocked by the stories they told him. They included accounts of a young man high on meth assaulting staff and 'causing mayhem' at the medical clinic, and of drug-induced family dysfunction with girls as young as 11 becoming pregnant. 'But the thing that just got me is, you know how when we were growing up, your dad might give you a sip of his beer or something when you're a young kid? Well, in some families, they're giving him a little bit of P.' McCallum said he was pleased Tahere and Ngāpuhi were standing up and saying they had had enough. 'We have to try and break this cycle. It won't be fixed in five minutes, but we have to start, and one of the key things we've got to do to help break that cycle is get children to school and keep them there,' McCallum said. In the longer term, he said the answer lay in a stronger local economy and a good education system, so people in towns like Kaikohe had well-paying jobs and children had options for their future. 'But ultimately – and this applies to any community, we're not picking on Kaikohe here, it's just the first cab off the rank – the community has to own this problem. If they don't want drugs in their community, they need to make it clear they don't want it in their community. And they need to push back and feed information through to the police when they find people dealing.' During a recent visit to Whangārei, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said the Government was focused on trying to stop drugs entering the border, coming down hard on dealers and organised crime, and taking a health-led approach to drug users. Although wastewater testing had shown a big jump in meth use, other data showed the number of users had not increased significantly. That suggested the same group of people was taking more meth, he said. Doocey offered a sliver of hope to organisations like Te Hau Ora o Ngāpuhi, who were calling out for more funding to prevent people becoming addicted in the first place. 'We're looking at the Proceeds of Crime Fund to fund some of that. When you look at some of the high-need areas like Northland, it will be a more targeted response. Also, we'll be looking at how we can resource existing services on the ground, who are already delivering, to scale up to the need,' he said. The Proceeds of Crime Fund, which reopened recently for applications after a three-year freeze, would now focus on reducing violent crime. Such crime was often driven by drugs, Doocey said. Meanwhile, back on the front line, Jade said collective action and more funding were vital. 'I'm not sure that heavy-handedness in the justice system, and filling the jails in a system that isn't working for our people anyway, is the right solution,' he said. 'It's going to get worse unless we can get ahead of it, and work together in the same direction. I'm not saying we haven't done that in the past, but it's going to need an even more collective approach. And I'm hoping people come with wallets open because it's going to need to be funded.' Scott highlighted the need for comprehensive residential treatment in Northland, so people didn't need to have to be shipped off to Auckland for help. 'You'll never stop drugs, but we can come together and try to minimise it. What that looks like, I don't know. Police are obviously under the pump out there, like everyone else,' he said. 'I think we need some more healing centres for whānau up here in Kaikohe. I don't like using the word rehabilitation. What's needed is a one-stop shop where people can reside, they can heal, get counselling, work on physical fitness, and the kids can go to school.' Whatever the answer, for the kids Scott and Jade see every day, it can not come soon enough.
NZ Herald
22-04-2025
- NZ Herald
Zacharius Rakena avoids prison after wild South Auckland car theft, attack on police
He repeatedly rammed the police car until the stolen vehicle was inoperable, then tried to run – tussling with police and injuring one with an officer's own stun gun in the process. He pulled off a narrow escape but it ended the next morning when police arrived at his partner's house, sending in a police dog to take him by force when Rakena hid in a neighbour's laundry room and refused to come out. 'The consequences could have been much more serious,' Manukau District Court Judge Yelena Yelavich said last week as she considered the defendant's request for a non-custodial sentence after pleading guilty to nine charges. 'Thankfully, they were not, but they were serious enough.' The judge approved the request. Break the cycle Rakena was joined in court last week by supporters from the Grace Foundation, a live-in rehabilitation programme known for taking in some of Auckland's most hardened criminals. Reports of his rehabilitation at the bail house have been positive, defence lawyer Vernon Tava pointed out, noting also that his client 'served a reasonably lengthy period of imprisonment' starting in 2021. 'It would be certainly in the interest of justice ... to have the defendant continue on that rehabilitative pathway to break the cycle of offending,' he argued. 'Another term of imprisonment may well just set him back to the old ways.' He suggested the punitive element of the sentence could already be considered by the judge to have been served by the 287 days his client spent in jail awaiting trial, followed by months on restrictive, electronically monitored bail. With that out of the way, he suggested, a sentence of intensive supervision would be best for his client and for the long-term safety of the community. Crown prosecutor Nina Wilgur, meanwhile, emphasised that the case involved 'serious offending against the backdrop of a very poor criminal history'. Dangerous cat-and-mouse The most recent trouble for the defendant, whose full name is Zacharius Manuera Totorewa Rakena, started around 6.30am on February 19 last year. That morning the victim was commuting to work near Auckland Airport in his blue Subaru Impreza when he overtook Rakena's van on Landing Drive. The defendant followed the commuter into the carpark of a lunch bar on Montgomerie Rd. They both parked, but Rakena hung back as the other man went inside. He then tried to get in the other man's car. However, he was caught in the act. The victim ran outside and stood in front of the vehicle, blocking the exit. 'The defendant accelerated and veered right, trying to move around [the owner] but [he] moved with the vehicle, trying to prevent the defendant from leaving,' court documents state. 'The defendant accelerated forward. As he did so, [the victim] threw himself onto the bonnet of the car. He held onto the top of the bonnet with his left hand and the passenger wheel with his right hand.' With the victim still clinging to the bonnet, Rakena continued driving to the exit of the carpark. 'There, he braked hard in an attempt to throw [him] from the bonnet,' documents state. 'This caused the lower part of [the victim's] body to fall from the bonnet, but he was still holding on with his arms.' Rakena then reversed the car 'at speed', dragging the victim alongside the car. The victim let go after scraping his knees along the ground for about two metres. He was unable to work for about a month afterwards. Cul-de-sac standoff The agreed summaries of facts for Rakena's case list three other victims – all police officers whose names have been redacted. The officers caught up to the defendant at 2.30pm that same day, finding him standing next to the open driver's door of the stolen vehicle in a Māngere cul-de-sac. A sergeant, with two constables as his passengers, parked the patrol vehicle nose-to-nose with the stolen car to prevent him from leaving. Rakena got back inside the stolen vehicle and tried to force his way out of the police block, ramming the police car with enough force that one of the officers recalled smoke coming from the stolen vehicle's tyres. One officer got out of the vehicle, getting ready to use his Taser, when Rakena rammed the patrol car again, pushing it about 5m. 'The defendant reversed again and accelerated forward, colliding with the police car a third time,' documents state. 'This time, the defendant's vehicle collided with a bollard, causing it to become stuck.' He ran. Rakena fell to the ground after one of the constables shot him with his Taser, but the defendant was able to break the wires. The constable threw the Taser to the side because it no longer had any active prongs, while the sergeant moved in and attempted to restrain Rakena on the ground, according to the agreed facts. During this time, the other constable deployed his Taser, but it hit both the defendant and the sergeant, causing the sergeant to lose his grip. Rakena then scrambled for the discarded Taser. 'F*** off!' he said as he pointed it at the officers, who withdrew from the situation to await back-up. He ran away through Ruaiti Reserve, taking the Taser with him. One of the constables later reported he was 'contact stunned' to one of his fingers during the melee but did not require treatment. Advertise with NZME. Police took no chances the next day when they arrived at an Ōtara home belonging to Rakena's girlfriend. Upon seeing police, Rakena had hopped a fence and tried to hide in a neighbour's laundry. When the ruse didn't work, he barricaded the laundry door with his body and claimed to have weapons, stating he would self-harm. 'Eventually, they were able to distract him and open the door,' court documents state. As he was pulled away, with the help of a police dog, he was writhing and thrashing – resulting in an additional charge of resisting arrest. In a recorded interview with police later that day, Rakena claimed it was police who had rammed him the day earlier, not the other way around. He said he blacked out when an officer tasered him and he did not recall tasering the constable. With his guilty pleas late last year, Rakena acknowledged having committed the crimes. At sentencing, his lawyer downplayed the significance of the resisting arrest charge. 'The thrashing ... was quite a natural response to having a dog set on him in a confined space,' Tova suggested. 'Significant history' In assessing what the sentence should be, Judge Yelavich pointed to Rakena's 'significant history' of crime, which included 12 offences involving assault or violence, eight offences involving resisting or assaulting police and other instances involving stolen vehicles. There was also an armed robbery from over a decade ago, not elaborated on at the sentencing hearing, that Rakena's previous lawyers tried unsuccessfully to get overturned in the Supreme Court. He had been found guilty by a district court jury in June 2015 of targeting an Onehunga auto parts business a year earlier and was subsequently sentenced to four years' imprisonment. The case against him had been circumstantial, with the Crown noting that a pair of striped track pants matching those of the masked, pistol-wielding robber were found in a recycling bin outside Rakena's home. The clothing contained his DNA. His lawyers argued that a miscarriage of justice had occurred due to an unreasonable verdict. The Court of Appeal disagreed in a July 2016 judgment. 'Nothing raised shows any risk of a miscarriage of justice,' the Supreme Court added three months later. Capacity to change Of all the charges Rakena faced last week, it was the car thefts that carried the largest possible penalty – a maximum of seven years' imprisonment. In addition to the Subaru Impreza, he admitted to having stolen two other cars: a Ford Ranger taken from a Māngere Bridge residential construction site in December 2023 and a Mitsubishi Lancer taken from another victim's Māngere workplace in early January 2024. He later claimed he had gone to the construction site for a job interview and wasn't the thief and on the second occasion was only a passenger, not knowing the car was stolen. Judge Yelavich, however, decided to treat Rakena's reckless driving causing injury – in which he bucked the victim from the bonnet – as the lead offence for sentencing purposes. It carries a maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment. She settled on a 32-month starting point after factoring in uplifts for the various other charges. An additional six months were added for his prior criminal history and having offended while on bail and subject to prison release conditions. She then allowed 45% in discounts for his guilty pleas, remorse, his troubled background and his efforts at rehabilitation. She noted that Rakena grew up surrounded by drugs, alcohol, gangs and physical abuse. A pre-sentence report noted his continued reluctance to distance himself from his own gang connections. But the past four months on electronically monitored bail have been spent at Grace Foundation, where he received glowing reports for what appeared to be earnest efforts to change the course of his life. The judge noted that Rakena told a pre-sentence report writer he wanted to continue his work with the Grace Foundation regardless of whether he had to serve a prison sentence first. 'You have demonstrated over the past four months you have the capacity to turn your life around,' Judge Yelavich said. Given the circumstances of the case, she said the community detention sought by the defence was too lenient. But she allowed six months' home detention – in which he will continue to reside at the Grace Foundation – followed by 12 months of post-detention conditions. She also ordered $2000 in reparations to two victims, noting the defendant didn't have the ability to pay the full $5000 sought by the Crown.
