But meth use, up 15% since the last quarter, and my question is why? Why? Why are people taking up this pernicious drug when there is so much harm associated with it? Do they think that all the stories they hear, all the stats you read or hear, all the pearl-clutching is just middle class, middle New Zealand moral panic? Surely not. Meth use seems to be across all socioeconomic groups, but even on TikTok, Instagram, you've got former users who are saying how much better their lives are now that they've got free of the clutches of the drug and the gangs who control it, that they can't believe that they let themselves get hooked, that they were so low that they wanted to die and now they're out of it.
Why are people still picking up the pipe and giving it a go? To a certain extent, I can understand how people become sellers and pushers of the drug. They don't actually want to work to make a buck. They see a way of making easy dollars, far more than they could ever earn in their small town with their small skills, and the lure of the money is just too great to withstand the overtures from gang members. So selling it, I can understand how you would get into that. You don't want to work, you don't want to work hard, you haven't got the ability to earn the sort of money that you get from selling drugs, I sell drugs. But why become a user?
There was much hoohah yesterday with a major drugs bust in Northland. Operation Phoenix has dismantled an operation manufacturing and supplying meth in remote parts of the Far North – it's a huge problem up there. 14 people have been arrested with links to the Tribesmen and Head Hunters. Police say the gangs were getting single mums addicted to meth with the intent of turning them into dealers of the drug. So give it to them for free, get them addicted, get them to pay off the debt in the time-honoured way that desperate women pay off debts, get them becoming dealers, and off you go. Nothing new here.
Kids from private schools have also been targeted for decades. Good looking boys hang around the girls' schools, good looking girls hang around the boys' schools, they give them drugs for free. They know that even if these kids don't have money, they know people who do, and off you go. So yay Operation Phoenix for busting this gang operation, but even the police know that meth use won't drop. They said in the press conference that it's a long game they're playing, it's not about one off jobs. It will have an impact on this particular gang for a certain amount of time. But why? Why are people using?
Sir Paul Holmes, bless him, once he saw the damage that drugs could do within his family, he was on an absolute rampage against the drugs and the pushers of the drugs. We've all known the dangers of it, the dangers of being associated with it after all the publicity, the horror stories from former addicts. Why are people still picking up the pipe? I get that the world is a tough place if you feel like you can't get out from under the crushing weight of bills and debt and trying to be somebody, trying to do better, trying to escape a dreadful childhood, you just want to turn off. But nowhere have I ever seen somebody say, well, that meth use really helped, that turned my life around for the better, boy do I feel like a better, more whole human being as a result of using meth. Nobody. Not one person. There are other drugs, there are legal drugs. Alcohol does terrible, terrible harm too, but at least you're not in the claws of the gangs. If you need a drug to switch off, there are other far less damaging drugs than meth. Why? Why?
I'd love to hear from those who might have been there, done that, who've got family members. And if you are trying to get off or you have managed to, how hard is it to get away from the gangs, to settle your debts to your dealer and walk away, and then how hard is it to get off the stuff? Because it's only by getting rid of the users that you get rid of the sellers and the pushers. If the gangs don't see a market in it, they won't be selling it, they'll move on to something else. It's the dumb shmucks who allow themselves to get hooked that ensure that the gangs keep earning good money, that they keep riding the flash bikes that you've bought them. Your money's funded their lifestyle while you're living in squalid, desperate poverty. The gangs are travelling the world in first class, the gang leaders, laughing all the way to their crooked accountant.
Kerre McIvor, is a journalist, radio presenter, author and columnist. Currently hosts the Kerre Woodham mornings show on Newstalk ZB - where this article was sourced.
Why are people still picking up the pipe and giving it a go? To a certain extent, I can understand how people become sellers and pushers of the drug. They don't actually want to work to make a buck. They see a way of making easy dollars, far more than they could ever earn in their small town with their small skills, and the lure of the money is just too great to withstand the overtures from gang members. So selling it, I can understand how you would get into that. You don't want to work, you don't want to work hard, you haven't got the ability to earn the sort of money that you get from selling drugs, I sell drugs. But why become a user?
There was much hoohah yesterday with a major drugs bust in Northland. Operation Phoenix has dismantled an operation manufacturing and supplying meth in remote parts of the Far North – it's a huge problem up there. 14 people have been arrested with links to the Tribesmen and Head Hunters. Police say the gangs were getting single mums addicted to meth with the intent of turning them into dealers of the drug. So give it to them for free, get them addicted, get them to pay off the debt in the time-honoured way that desperate women pay off debts, get them becoming dealers, and off you go. Nothing new here.
Kids from private schools have also been targeted for decades. Good looking boys hang around the girls' schools, good looking girls hang around the boys' schools, they give them drugs for free. They know that even if these kids don't have money, they know people who do, and off you go. So yay Operation Phoenix for busting this gang operation, but even the police know that meth use won't drop. They said in the press conference that it's a long game they're playing, it's not about one off jobs. It will have an impact on this particular gang for a certain amount of time. But why? Why are people using?
Sir Paul Holmes, bless him, once he saw the damage that drugs could do within his family, he was on an absolute rampage against the drugs and the pushers of the drugs. We've all known the dangers of it, the dangers of being associated with it after all the publicity, the horror stories from former addicts. Why are people still picking up the pipe? I get that the world is a tough place if you feel like you can't get out from under the crushing weight of bills and debt and trying to be somebody, trying to do better, trying to escape a dreadful childhood, you just want to turn off. But nowhere have I ever seen somebody say, well, that meth use really helped, that turned my life around for the better, boy do I feel like a better, more whole human being as a result of using meth. Nobody. Not one person. There are other drugs, there are legal drugs. Alcohol does terrible, terrible harm too, but at least you're not in the claws of the gangs. If you need a drug to switch off, there are other far less damaging drugs than meth. Why? Why?
I'd love to hear from those who might have been there, done that, who've got family members. And if you are trying to get off or you have managed to, how hard is it to get away from the gangs, to settle your debts to your dealer and walk away, and then how hard is it to get off the stuff? Because it's only by getting rid of the users that you get rid of the sellers and the pushers. If the gangs don't see a market in it, they won't be selling it, they'll move on to something else. It's the dumb shmucks who allow themselves to get hooked that ensure that the gangs keep earning good money, that they keep riding the flash bikes that you've bought them. Your money's funded their lifestyle while you're living in squalid, desperate poverty. The gangs are travelling the world in first class, the gang leaders, laughing all the way to their crooked accountant.
Kerre McIvor, is a journalist, radio presenter, author and columnist. Currently hosts the Kerre Woodham mornings show on Newstalk ZB - where this article was sourced.
16 comments:
Households slammed by rampant electricity, fuel and government charges. Unemployment particularly youth unemployment through the roof. A government hell bent on sending money to big business at the expense of regular kiwis. Social safety net removed.
Heaps of really clear obvious reasons.
Over half of the kids living in New Zealand’s poorest households are homeless, according to a new report this week from the Coalition to end Women’s Homelessness.
I'd love to know what causal mechanism operates between my power bill and my taking up meth as a pastime. That's assuming there is one, of course........ which I'll bet there isn't.
More than a thousand young Gisborne people without a home.
“Funding had been cut across the board for community services, making it even more difficult more organisations like hers to help those in need”, Hannah-Kingi said.
The correlation between poverty and hopelessness vs drug use is well understood. It isn’t that National, ACT and people like Kerre aren’t aware; they just don’t care.
Meth use isn’t a pastime. It’s an addiction that starts with a gateway drug like a vape or cigarette, then moves to a joint or a bong. Typically during the years when people are experimenting with drugs they have been exposed to by their peer group and have little insight about how much risk they are exposed to until it becomes a habit and then the drug takes over the decision making process. Kerri even alluded to this when discussing private school kids being marketed to and solo mothers who deal in their community. What she doesn’t understand is that we all pay for meth, not just the ones being supplied by the gang dealers. Policing costs every taxpayer. Shoplifting and theft cost every consumer because retailers pass those costs on. Rehab and prisons are a cost to society. Everyone pays. But why meth? Well, like all retail supply chains, it’s easier to mass produce than other plant based drugs like heroin and cannabis and can be manufactured 24/7. Makes it acceptable to have losses, by customs seizures during importation because of the profitability equation, and the market is price focused so that dealers can sell small quantities to suit demand and still maintain their profits. Its a win win for the cartel that supplies this operation and they are not giving up their business model as it pays generously. Does that answer your question Why?
Anon 8.38. 'Social safety net removed.' You need to put the pipe down.
My thoughts exactly Barend. If your income is insufficient to make ends meet, why spend what you haven't got on a drugs? Weird.
Meth isn’t a pastime, Barend, and you know that…or would, if you had ever studied drug addiction. It’s the funny thing about society, it ticks along best when we get to know it and the people who live in it.
Cambridge dictionary: pastime = an activity that is done for enjoyment.
Meth is a stimulant; it makes you feel good for hours. That's why people initially take it. Then of course the addiction takes over.
But the question I was asking in my usual sardonic way was what the connection is between my power bill and my taking up meth see Anon 838 above). So far, no answers.
It was answered by Anon above. It has been well studied. And poor folks here don’t seem to want to read up on it either. Ignorance is bliss, for some, while NZ continues its downward slide under NACTFML.
And which race is dominant in the meth industry ?
Who is involved in importing or creating, distributing the meth ?
Just some poor ignorant underprivileged Maori ?
What has been well studied, Anon 712, is the covariates of meth use - variables that tend to coincide with it. But covariance does not tell us anything about a causal mechanism, or even whether there is one at work. You seem to have fallen for the oldest fallacy in the stats book - that when A correlates or covaries with B, A must be causing B.
My problem with the covariance approach is that it tends to be used as a blame-assigning exercise - it's someone else's fault (power company, supermarket, landlord, whatever), thereby shifting blame away from the individual who make the choices that brought about the current predicament.
In no particular order -
Misplaced and archaic tribal / cultural values in a modern society.
Rising gang memberships.
Petty crime, theft and burglaries financing said addiction.
Ineffective policing.
Incompetent Judiciary.
Lenient penalties.
Kiwis gutless attitude to declaring war on internal terrorists.
Two of our 4 children have had thier lives ruined by meth. Brought up in a loving white middle class family they became involved with partners who thought a little bit of the gateway drug , weed was okay. That lead onto just try this and that, then meth. One a nurse, lost her job, kids, house, relationship, friends, then multiple convictions etc. The other one had a similar story and was lucky to escape jail after stabbing a fellow meth user.
Glad to say both are now meth free but live lives with ongoing health and mental issues.
As parents it was and still is, heartbreaking and financially tough. They even stole from us to support the addiction
There's very little help. Some police were supportive, some nasty and a small number we were convinced were being paid off.
It's a long horrible journey that I hope no body ever has to go through.
The solution, many times I think a death penality for anyone importing or dealing this poison, and many a time as a parent I would have been happy to be the one who pulls the trigger.
I have a son who was introduced at College age to meth by a dealer. Several of his friends became victims of the same fate. Debt, dependency, extortion, suicides, jail terms, violence, and jobs and life opportunities taken. There is evil attached to all who peddle and manufacture or distribute this drug for their own financial gain or to feed their own habits. Issues with addiction not helped by the lack of rehab accessibility and prior to it not being regarded as an illness a court system that pigeon holed victims such as these leaving them pushing 'you no what up hill' when they do get to rock bottom and attempt to turn their lives around.
My sympathy to anyone who has had a friend or family member involved with this drug.
Anon.
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