New research reveals decline in price of cannabis, methamphetamine – expert explains why
The change in Aotearoa’s drug enforcement strategy could be behind the decline in the price of cannabis and new research shows it’s not the only drug that’s becoming cheaper.
The New Zealand Drug Trends Survey has revealed methamphetamine and cannabis are among the illicit drugs that have become more cheaper and readily available over the past four years.
The survey’s key findings show the price of cannabis dropped by $35 an ounce, going from $368 in 2017 to $336 this year. While the price for a gram of methamphetamine dropped by $157, from $563 per gram to $406 per gram over the past four years.
The survey also found Kiwis are finding it harder to source ecstasy, while cocaine use had increased in urban centres.
Ecstasy has climbed in price between 2020 and 2023, and become more difficult to source.
Oh come on! Don’t even be surprised by this, you can’t be surprised by this?
How stupid are you all?
Of course the price of meth was going to plummet!
The 501 syndicates are a force unseen in the NZ criminal underworld.
They use a level of violence well beyond the domestic gangs and through their South American Cartel links employ counter intelligence tactics for more sophisticated than the NZ Police force can muster.
The 501 syndicates have used their South American Drug Cartel contacts to import a cheaper, purer meth while creating their own supply chains inside NZ and by simply taking over existing domestic criminal organisations.
The Alpha Gangs of the Headhunters, Hells Angels and King Cobras built their power by controlling the airports and ports to bring in cheap Triad Meth made overseas.
The 501s are fighting to take over those entry points while utilising South American Cartel meth.
The price of cannabis has dropped because medicinal cannabis is now so prevalent in the middle class cannabis market meaning local growers are competing against high strain THC medicinal cannabis and are being forced to lower their prices in direct competition with these new pharmaceutical grade high THC strains.
Ecstasy leaving the market is terrible news. As one of the safest party drugs to use (you have more chance of having an allergic reaction to aspirin than MDMA), we want people who are going out to party to use relatively safe drugs like Ecstasy, but due to the concentrated nature of the manufacture of MDMA, many of those high density producers shut down over Covid have struggled to rebuild supply chains meaning people will be driven to harder drugs.
Cocaine use is up, but it’s only used by the very wealthy.
This tsunami of cheaper more pure Meth has also seen an ocean of guns entering the market via the same entry points of criminality as Gangs buy weapons for protection.
The only solution to the ever increasing pointless war on drugs is to be adults here.
Legalise cannabis and make it a taxable market!
A point of meth sells for $100 NZ, the same amount sells for $5 in America, the price difference is what is driving this massive market takeover by the 501 syndicates.
That is a demand side drive and the only way to reduce that drive is rehab programs that work.
Currently we spend $15million on drug rehab programmes and that is for a joke 6 weeks.
We need massive rehab programs that work, if we had a taxed Cannabis market we would make $1.1billion in taxation each year, we could ring fence $100m of that for drug rehab and actually help meth addicts kick the addiction and thus lower demand.
If we don’t provide legitimate business from cannabis growing we leave it in the hands of organised crime as they build their meth fortunes, legalising the market would allow the industry to get out from under gangs and provide the drug rehab money to drive down meth demand.
It’s a smarter move than just pouring more money into the war on drugs.
Oh and legalise MDAM and look to micro dosing LSD for depression, come on folks, let’s welcome the good drugs (Cannabis, MDMA, LSD, Mushrooms) and dump the dreadful drugs like Meth, Heroine, Tobacco and Booze.
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Cheaper and more available drugs are nothing to do with the Government then?
The Government isn’t importing meth Ada. Please do try to make a point.
They don’t seem to be doing much good stopping importation either.
throwing people into prison isnt either, is it? so do you actually have any suggestions? or is all you have blaming the government?
Sorry, but who is in charge, and has tax revenue and legislation behind them? The Government is in charge and has powers.
Who else should we blame?
I’m not asking for someone to blame, I’m asking what do you think the government should do. Do you have anything to add ?
Ruh Roh!
There’s the real source of the problem right there!
This is how they get inflation down
There are very few adults Martyn. Well they pass the age test but have limited capacity in their incredibly small puritanical, hypocritical minds. That’s why a’holes like Barry Soper somehow have a job
Singapore has a solution.
How about living in a society where kids know that taking any sort of non-medicinal drug is for losers and layabouts, and that includes ecstasy. And what happens to productivity when half the population is stoned most of the time?
Cannabis and ecstasy are also gateways to the harder drugs out there.
What rubbish. Consciousness expansion is a natural and healthy built in drive, no different to sex drive or social drive. Drugs are beneficial in so many ways, it’s prohibition that is evil. Using drugs is not for losers and layabouts. Most high achievers and top performers use drugs: Mick Jagger, Steve Jobs, The Beatles, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the list is extensive.
Cannabis and ecstasy are not gateway drugs, that’s alcohol and sugar. 99 percent of harm related to drugs is really caused by prohibition.
Mark you are in serious need of mind expansion. I strongly suggest you head over to your local gang pad and get a sample of everything they’ve got. Just be sure to stop by the Hempstore to get them tested before use, as thanks to prohibition they will likely be adulterated. Just say know!
That’s the problem Jimmy. All these right wing types go on about nanny state but then freak out at legalising a literal weed. It’s so irrational. They think making something illegal is preventive. Very Nancy Reagan.
Legalize the lot. Even the class a drugs are relatively safe compared to the cuts (Fentanyl and analogues of) that are starting to show up thanks to prohibition. And its not just the rich snorting coke Bomber, I am seeing working class kids start to use it semi regular. I can only assume they all pitch in and then flick some off to their friends to cover costs. Only a matter of time till someones kid hoovers up a fat line of fentanyl laced coke a dies on the spot. But you can’t tell them, they already know it all.
It doesn’t make much logical sense to ban M.D.M.A. (and waste police time on it) while grog and cigarettes seem to be causing far more problems. There are now so many states legalising weed, it’s probably only a matter of time before most of the wealthy countries do so.
The T.G.A. has just approved pharmaceutical grade Psilocybin for prescription-only use, so the ‘mushroom train’ is already leaving the station.
There needs to be a serious plan to smash the cartels, and forever end the epidemic of fentanyl and meth. Anyone proven to be a functionary or promoter of a narcotics-associated crime organisation should immediately receive a very long prison sentence, surely.
You miss the situation in Myanmar , where the government is funding its hold on power with meth production. “Yaba” the local form of meth is down to 4 baht (20 cents) a pill.
NZ should buy in bulk and become a reseller! A trade deal with the US and shit countries like that!
Remember. The biggest drug dealer, cabal is the CIA. They have a long documented history of dealing in drugs for cash to buy weapons to give to militia to overthrow democratically elected governments they don’t like.
During the Reagan administration. Pretty much all of the South American drug cartels were run by the CIA who laundered the drug money and also transported drugs across the US borders for the cartels! They even set up bank accounts for the drug lords in Europe and bought weapons from the Ukrainians to then supply to the militia they had set up in South America.
And now, they’ve got pretty good at it. And they do all of this for human rights, women and children trafficking and regime change, still.
Hate to tell you this Martyn, but here in Auckland a quarter costs between $120 – $150, so prices are actually a lot lower than what the statistics you are citing show. I know these are prices that have been rounded to a national average, but if these numbers were provided by the NZ Police, then the price value will definitely have been inflated.
The Police do this for two reasons, to show their paymasters a numerical value to their “success”, and to try and get a harsher sentence from a judge. At the end of every financial year, the Police bosses get to tell the Government “look at us, didn’t we do well, please keep funding us!”, and the detectives at pay/performance review time get to ask, “didn’t I do well, please give me a pay rise!”. And the circle of life rolls on. Of course the politicians are only interested in statistical results, not real world results, this problem will only get worse with Governments which are interested in linking statistical performance with funding. I’m looking at you David Seymour.
If the world really wants to make a dent in reducing meth consumption, and it really would have to be a concerted effort by every western government on the planet, they would have to convince the Chinese Government to stop manufacturing the precursors of meth, and to stop exporting them to countries like Laos, Myanmar, and of course Mexico.
When a certain equilibrium between the gangs has been reached, expect there to be a concerted effort of dealers to target middle class kids, ’cause there is gold in them thar leafy suburbs. Hell, the Head Hunters and KC’s had huge success with mixing MDMA and P back in the late 90’s and early 00’s, and selling that to the rave kids, that they’d be idiots not to do it again. Especially with party drugs prices climbing.
I wonder if the “tough on crime crew” will start advocating for more rehabs then?
Effective rehab?
Nothing more effective than ibogaine, legal to import, but the clinic having huge success with it was shut down pending a coroner’s report .The coroner’s report came and went , woman who died had an undisclosed heart condition , clinic never reinstated, with or without new safety parameters .Ibogaine for pretty much all addictions has a far more successful outcome than all other rehab interventions .Very low recidivism rate, cheap and treatment short in duration .An academic report done by Otago ? University highly recommended exploring this further.What do we get?
1000s rotting on methadone, or quietly dying from addiction related disorders.
Why has no one taken this up?
Come on Martyn!
Because society does not seem to mind of those that have mental issues – most drug users do – will self medicate themselfes to death. There is money to be made in that misery, and that will be made by the bodies of the addicts. Look at the US, San Fran, Portland, Seattle, all out drug use, NGO’s making money like hay in summer, yet nothing gets better. Because nothing is supposed to get better. Money is supposed to flow in the coffers of a few connected org, charities, elected officials for their next run. Just ignore all the broken and dead bodies littering the landscape.
Ibogaine is toxic to the heart. I read it has a one in 200 fatality rate. That is a high risk and not everyone knows they have an underlying heart condition. It works for serious opiate addicts who have tried everything else. But is one to be taken under the careful watch of an experienced doctor rather than a hippy crystal witch. Kratom on the other hand is very safe and effective for opiates and meth. Even works for alcohol. Ibogaine should be available, but only as last resort for those who have tried and failed with Kratom. Also, why not just give opioid addicts plant derived opium instead of methadone? Much healthier, safer, less addictive. Kratom is prescription medicine. Needs to be made available. Would save lives.
we are a nation of meth heads and that’s not rhetoric…no demand no supply
Agree and its very hard to know how to stop it without a whole lot more societal control which has no guarantees of success
But I agree we have a huge meth problem.
Decriminalise ALL currently illegal recreational drugs. Turn all milk powder factories into Ecstasy making facilities using government funding then ‘Release The Cows!’ Then ban alcohol from supermarkets and create a cap on wealth because excessive financial wealth is perhaps the most dangerous drug of all. Until we insist we be treated like adults from our *political administrations we’ll never behave like adults and that’s precisely the environment the hyper rich need to continue to exploit us within.
* Our political administrations under neo liberalism are not our politics or our administration. They’re owned by privateers who only know profit to sate their greed and drug-crime enforcement is an abstract means of overall control. And I’m only a wee old farmer way down south o’ where you’re at an’ even I know that.
I love this old guy. I heard he topped himself toward the end, which, it goes without saying, was very sad. Meet Popcorn Sutton. https://youtu.be/5Ma9vUqwpcc
My grand daddy on my mothers side was a Hokonui Moonshiner. He fathered 12 kids, that we know of, and died ancient with a fag in his gums. ( That’d be a cigarette, you naughty people.)
Here’s what the label bearing a Skull and Crossbones reads:
“Guaranteed Free From Poisons. Old Hokonui. Passed all tests except the police. Bottled by Me for You. Produce of SOUTHLAND. Supplied to all snake charmers. Original. Southland Grain Spirit. 40% alc/vol. “
As far as I know, you can only buy the stuff in Gore. My home town. Yep siree, I’m a Goreon.
What’s it taste like? Fucking awesome and gets better upon repetition. The problem is that once you realise you’ve over-repeated it’s about to become a lesson in too much.
At the risk of repeating myself: The reason, I believe, we’re being treated like fools with regard to recreational drugs is because the hyper-rich psychopathic narcissists who callously harvest us for our life’s worth of working to sate their greed is because they’re exploiting us mercilessly and they’ve created a veil of deflection so as they can do their work in broad daylight. It’s essentially what they pay lawyers to do.
There are 14 multi-billionaires, 3118 multi-millionaires and four foreign owned banks boldly invited into our economy by the aforementioned hyper rich to effectively launder OUR money THEY steal from us by lending it back to us at egregious rates to keep us imprisoned under the weight of unpayable mortgage debts to them. You know that’s a scam, right? I know that’s a scam. They know they’re scamming us and so does our political representation and yet the only thing that happens is that we get scammed and they get richer.
Solution: You know that fat shiny politician you’re about to cast the runes to help you decide whether you should trust with your precious vote, or not? Yeah, that one. Here’s the thing about that. You can’t trust the fucker. Not one little bit. One sniff of money, they get the stiffie-wriggles, then they’re gone. Into the maelstrom. Down into the deep dark depths… The solution is simple once you come to understand it. Here it is. Warning! It’s a head-fuck. Hint. It’s to do with while drugs are illegal, voting isn’t compulsory.
Our politics and administration and the hyper rich and exploitative are living in dire dread that we’ll work out this one essential hack, to use an Americanism.
It was WE who are in control. NOT THEM. Our politicians are fucking ours, not theirs. And if a politician starts to snivel and whine about what the rich might think about policy, you know they’re gone. And they are gone, right? You can see that surely? Our politicians are owned by our rich and that’s why we have dire societal catastrophes rising and worsening. Our farmers are fucked and because of that, so too will we be. Reading this should send a chill up what spines are left in us.
rnz. The arse kissing neo-liberal rag of choice minion to the banks and the hyper-rich.
‘The woes of wool’
It’s been a disastrous year for wool and some farmers are worried about the future of the industry in New Zealand.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018901564/the-woes-of-wool
Dan Steele has a familar story. Of make-do instead of fight back. Of aquiessing rather than resisting. Of refusing to believe the unbelievable.
Reading the rnz piece is a reminder of a cultural divide between farmers, reality, politics and the full bellies of city people doomed to wear their ignorance as to where their food, their money and their lifestyles come from like the Emperors new clothes.
We need to go one way or the other not just sitting on the fence, every one just wants a $ Each Way.
Isn’t the falling prices a sign that true competition provides benefits to the consumer. The invisible hand of the market.
Capitalism in action. Maybe we need to encourage shoot outs between supermarkets & electricity suppliers.
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