John MacDonald: The addict's battle is lost in a drug war

Let’s play a little bit of would-you-rather. 

Would you rather the country faced a bill of $1 billion per year for the harm caused by drug use? Or $8 billion per year for the harm caused by alcohol? 

I know what your answer is. I’m picking it’s the same as mine. I’d rather we had neither. 

But that’s the comparison in front of us with these new stats out today in relation to what drug use is costing the country in terms of harm. And I tell you what - nothing’s going to change, in fact it will get worse, if we keep on treating drug users as criminals. 

These people need help. They don’t need the big stick.  

The big ticket item in these numbers out today - if you can call it that - is the harm that comes from methamphetamine. And the dollar value that’s being attached to that: $19.4 million a week. That’s according to the the National Drug Intelligence Bureau. 

MDMA costs the country $857,000 in harm each week. Cocaine, $990,000 per week. But it’s meth that’s doing the real damage. 

And what we’re talking about here is the cost of things like people ending up in hospital, dying - all the social harm. Marijuana doesn’t seem to be included in these numbers. But I would argue that we can’t turn a blind eye to the damage that does.  

I know the pro-cannabis crowd find it uncomfortable when you talk about the psychotic effect marijuana use can have on people. But it’s real. But that isn't included in these stats.  

These numbers also don’t include things like Ketamine, which is that horse tranquiliser that people are getting off on these days. And that can make them pretty unwell. 

So, what we’re talking about here is the harm caused by meth, MDMA and coke. 

Add that all up to an annual figure and it comes to about $1.1 billion per year. Versus $8 billion for the harm caused by alcohol. 

The big difference, of course, is that alcohol is legal. Which, I think we can assume, means there are going to be more people using alcohol than illegal drugs. And so the dollar value of the harm from alcohol is going to be higher, naturally. And the alcohol horse has well-and-truly bolted.  

But, is it too late when it comes to the drugs the police are talking about today? In particular, methamphetamine.  

In some respects it is too late. But in another respect, it’s not.  

It's been about 25 years since methamphetamine really took off in New Zealand. And it’s a great market for the suppliers.  

The police have said someone can bring-in 600 kilos of the stuff to New Zealand for a couple of million dollars, sell it and make a profit of around $120 million. 

That’s according to Detective Superintendent Greg Williams, who runs the National Organised Crime Group. And he says it’s been the infiltration of gangs from overseas that has really done the damage.  

Because, originally, it was the local gangs selling all the meth. Then, with the 501 deportees from Australia bringing their Rebels and Comancheros gang patches with them, that saw things really take off.  

Because they had the sophisticated operations and international connections to take it next-level from what it used to be. 

And that is not going to change much, is it? Yes, the Police and Customs do amazing work trying to shut down these operations. But I think, as we’ve seen over the years, any so-called “war on drugs” is like a game of whack-a-mole. You shut down one operation here and another operation pops up over there.  

So I think, like alcohol, there is an aspect of this that we can’t realistically do much about. And that’s the supply side of meth. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk Z'B.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Let's play a little bit of would you rather eight
billion or one billion? Would you rather the country faced
a bill of one billion dollars per year for the
harm caused by drug use or eight billion dollars per
year for the harm caused by alcohol. I know what
your answer is, No worry, I'm picking. It's the same

(00:34):
as mine. I'd rather we had neither. But that's a
comparison that's in front of us with these new stats
that are out today in relation to what drug use
is costing the country in terms of harm. And I
tell you what, nothing's going to change. In fact, I'm picking,
it's just going to get worse if we keep on

(00:56):
treading drug users as criminals. These people need help, they
don't need the big stick. More on that shortly. The
big ticket ee on this one. Begin to get your
take on that as well. The big ticket item in
terms of these drug numbers out today, if you can
call it, the big ticket item, is the harm that
comes from methamphetamine and the dollar value that's being attached

(01:19):
to that nineteen point four million dollars a week. That's
what the National Drug Intelligence Bureau is saying TODAYMA used
to be ecstasy back in the day. That costs the
country eight hundred and fifty seven thousand dollars in harm
each week, in cocaine nine hundred and ninety thousand dollars

(01:39):
per week. But it's a myth. Obviously you can tell
from the numbers. It's the myth that's doing the real
damage to sturve in nineteen million a week. And what
we're talking about here is the cost. This is not
what people are spending on the drug. This is the
cost of things like people ending up in hospital from
using it, dying, or the social harm marijuana doesn't seem

(02:01):
to be included in these numbers, and I would argue
that we can't turn a blind eye to the damage
that does either. I mean, I know the pro cannabis crowd,
cannabis crowd, they find it uncomfortable when you talk about
the psychotic effect of marijuana that it can have on
some people. But it's real, it's not included in these stats.
These numbers also don't include things like ketamine, which is

(02:24):
that horse Trenk realizes that people are getting off on
these days, which can make them pretty unwell. So what
we're talking about today is the harm caused by meth,
MDMA and coke, and you add all that up to
an annual figure and it comes to one point one
billion dollars per year. This is the harm caused by
those drugs versus eight billion dollars for the harm caused

(02:46):
by alcohol. The big difference, of course, is that alcohol
is legal, which I think we can assume means that
there are going to be more people us in grog
than illegal drugs, and so the dollar value of the
harm from alcohol is going to be higher naturally, And
I think we can say that the alcohol horse is
well and truly, but is it too late? Though? When

(03:10):
it comes to the drugs that the police are talking
about today, in particular methan fhetamine, is it too late?
That's the one I think we need to focus on today,
given that it is far and away the one that's
causing the most harm nearly twenty million dollars worth of
harm per week in New Zealand. In some respects I
think it is too late, but in another respect it's not.

(03:33):
I'll tell you what I mean. So it's been about
twenty five years since methamphetamine as we know it rarely
took off in New Zealand and it is a great
market for the supplies and some numbers I've seen the
police refer to is how someone can bring in six
hundred kilos of the stuff for a couple of million dollars,
sell it and make a profit of around one hundred

(03:54):
and twenty million. That's according to Detective Superintendent Greg Williams
used to be here in christ Church. He runs the
National Organized Crime Unit unit, as he describes it, quite
the profits. The profits are immense, and he says it's
been the infiltration of gangs from overseas that has really
done in the damage because originally it was a local
gang selling the meth and compared to overseas gangs, they're

(04:17):
a bit Dad's Army on it. But then with the
five ZHO one deportees from Australia bringing their rebels and
common Terro's gang patches with them, things really took off
because they had and they have the sophisticated operations and
the international connections to take it next level from what
it used to be. And that's not going to change much,
is it. I mean, yeah, the cops they do amazing

(04:38):
work trying to shut down these operations. But I think,
as we've seen over the years, any so called war
on drugs, it was like a game of whack a mole.
He shut down one operation here, you know, another one
pops up over there. So I think, like alcohol, there
is an aspect of this that we can't realistically do
much about, and that's the supply side of myth. Where

(05:01):
I think there is hope, though, is doing something to
deal with the demand for this appalling, and that's going
to require us to be a bit more open to
treating meth or meth use as a health issue instead
of a criminal issue. Essentially, what I'm saying here is
punish the supplies and support the buyers the users. Crackdown

(05:22):
as much as we can on the creepspringing the stuff
into the country and the creep selling it, but at
the same time put more effort into helping people stop
using it and prevent others from starting, which would require
us talking about it more, teaching kids in schools about meth,
spending more on treatment programs for meth users, and overall

(05:44):
not treating drug users as criminals.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
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