Sarah Helm: Drug Foundation Executive Director on the donated Rinda lollies found to contain 'lethal' meth dose

It's unclear how far meth-laced lollies could have been taken across Auckland.

The Rinda brand pineapple lollies were donated to Auckland City Mission, and given out in food parcels.

Drug Foundation Executive Director Sarah Helm says each lolly has about 300 doses of meth.

She says even a single suck is dangerous.

"There's still a range of effects, so you're likely to still feel an effect - possibly still needing to seek medical attention."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
To the meth lollies. The cops are now investigating. Up
to four hundred people are being urgently contacted. At least
eight families are known to have been infected affected rather,
including a child. Three people have sought medical assistance. The
disguised pineapple flavored lollies were donated by an unknown member
of the public to the Auckland City.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Mission early yesterday afternoon. We received an alert of concern
by a food parcel recipient who said that they had
tried funny tasting lollies.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
The Drug Foundation executive director Sarah Helmers with me. Now, hey, Sarah, hey, here,
how much myth is in each of these lollies?

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah, very concerningly. The sample we have tested, or samples,
I should say, we're one hundred percent mes. The lollies
weighs three grams, So each lolla represents three grams of myth. Now,
three grands of myth. Yet normally, if you were going
to take it on purpose, you'd be taking fifteen ish

(00:59):
micro so represents something like three hundred doses in each lollie.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Okay? Is that enough for even an adult if you
were to consume the whole thing to overdose late?

Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yeah, lethal most likely.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Okay, well, you're obviously not going to consume the whole
thing because it tastes really, really awful. So if you're
just having a suck of it before you realize that
something's wrong with it, how much trouble are you in?

Speaker 3 (01:24):
It could be still a range of effects, so you're
likely to still feel an effect, possibly still needing to
seek medical attention. So we're really urging anyone who knows
anyone that's received a City Mission package to get in
touch with them that might have one on these their
possession or have taken something, to seek help immediately.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Don't wait, is this a drug delivery gone bad?

Speaker 3 (01:52):
Look, we've made a few guesses about what it is,
so it's worth a lot of money. So we don't
think anyone would have done it on purpose, or at
least donated it on purpose. Obviously the packaging is very intentional.
It's quite normal for drug smuggling to occur in food

(02:14):
products or in food packaging. It's happened here before, and
certainly in terms of lollies, it's happened internationally. So we
think that something has gone awry and somebody's ended up
thinking we're holding a bag of lollies. But anyway, we
really don't know until further investigation is carried out. We've
been quite focused on, you know, testing that sample, making

(02:37):
sure that the people who need to know in terms
of like the poison line etc. Are informed, and then
today we've spent much of the day contacting other frontline
organizations to check what's going on for them.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Good stuff, Sarah, Thank you very much for talking oster
at Sarah howl and the New Zealand Drug Foundation executive director.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
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