Damien Grant: Rising meth busts make our drug policy feel more like insanity
If Libertarian Folk Hero Damien Grant isn’t happy about the tsunami off Meth decimating our community, perhaps he should have a chat with his favourite Political Party, ACT?
Gangs making large profits amid ‘bizarre’ increase in meth use
The police believe gangs are now making twice as much money from dealing methamphetamine as they were a year ago amid what they’re calling a “bizarre” increase in use of the illicit drug.
Recently released data from Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR)’s wastewater testing programme revealed New Zealand’s meth consumption rose from 732kg in 2023 to 1434kg in 2024.
ESR’s senior scientist Andrew Chappell told 1News there was a large spike in the amount of meth being consumed in July and August last year – and the level has remained high ever since.
New Zealand went from consuming between 15 and 20kg of methamphetamine a week to between 30 to 40kgs.
NZ Police have no idea why there was a jump in Meth use in June and August of last year and why it has remained so high.
R-i-g-h-t.
And what happened in June of last year…
Pseudoephedrine back on shelves
Associate Health Minister David Seymour is pleased that Pseudoephedrine can now be purchased by the general public to protect them from winter illness, after the coalition government worked swiftly to change the law and oversaw a fast approval process by Medsafe.
…and which Blogger pointed out that ACTs policy would see a jump in local domestic gangs who don’t have the international contacts to start making meth from Pseudoephedrine…
So ACT’s pseudoephedrine policy will help domestic meth cooks after all
…oh, me, that was me.
The blogger was me.
Remember what the officials said?
Officials back planned return of pseudoephedrine sales but suggest meth production increase
Officials have advised Associate Health Minister David Seymour, who leads the Misuse of Drugs (Pseudoephedrine) Amendment Bill, that the move comes with risks including a potential increase in domestic meth production, a higher likelihood pharmacies would be ram-raided and the potential for improper use.
And yet the NZ Police have no fucking idea why meth use spiked the month after this policy came into effect?
If Damien Grant wants to stop meth, ask his mates in ACT to stop feeding the domestic supply chain.
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Yeah! Hand the drug problem over to the Greens to solve.
Yes defund the police, abolish prisons and decriminalise all drugs. Treat drugs as a health issue and put the money saved on police and prisons into addiction support. Great policy
I agree 100%
@ MS.
That’s largely what Portugal did and it’s been hugely successful apparently. Unfortunately there’s no money in it for those who most profit from a crashing, dysfunctional society such as ours which has become toxic and is getting worse by the day.
George Monbiot of The Guardian touches on that in his brilliant column.
Neoliberalism destroys democratic hope and the far right fills the political void. We need a new politics of belonging, not Labour’s craven appeasement of capital
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/28/fascism-britain-neoliberalism-opened-door-for-it-labour
I saw a documentry on netflix last year .It did not go well in Portugal in fact it was a social disaster ,with drug taking in the streets and overdoses everyday killing people .Imagine the crime rate if it was legal ,still got to pay for it
Why not, the problem got handed over to ACT and the problem got worse. Yet again you cheerleaders for idiotic knee jerk responses have proven yourselves to be… well I think the only word that fits is imbeciles. Congrats. Dumbass.
The police themselves are reported to have dumped the illegal meth they confiscated and this would have accounted for the vastly increased amount of traces of meth found in sewers recently. Duh??!!
No dumped drugs are taken to landfill and disposed off and buried under police supervision not into sewers.
Curious to blame pharmacies, when the actual dealers are mostly gangs. Given that Maori are disproportionately affected (cf. Northland), how is it that Te Pati Maori arent at the firefront of pushing for draconian measures against the gangs? Meth fries brains, and diminishes the potential of those who take it. It is a form of self-induced dementia. One’s brain is one’s best part, and it should not be abused.