A top cop who worked through the 1980s war on homebake heroin confirms a health response to methamphetamine is the only way forward – and it will take down gangs in the process
A new report from police shows those with methamphetamine convictions are five times more likely to commit other crimes, and be the victims of crimes, than those with non-meth offences.
The latest insights from the Methamphetamine in New Zealand Research Programme conducted by the Evidence Based Policing Centre compared nearly 30,000 people with meth-related offences to nearly 30,000 people with other offences from 2010 to 2021.
The meth cohort were 22.2 times more likely to commit illicit drug offences, or drug-dealing crimes.
Detective superintendent detective Greg Williams said the vast majority of the other drug offences were also meth-related.
“Most of those [other offences] are related to methamphetamine and we were hearing anecdotally that the gangs are addicting people and then using them to sell on their behalf. Or we have people that are selling to basically pay for their own addiction ... but it was quite startling in terms of just how much.”
If meth-specific offences were removed from the data, the meth cohort would only commit 1.8 times more offences than those without a meth conviction.
Across all types of crime the meth cohort was 5.4 times more likely than the other group to commit an offence. They were also 1.7 times more likely to be the victim of an offence.
The likelihood across all different types of crime, including non-violent crime such as traffic offences and bail breaches, was also up for those with a meth conviction.
Williams said in some ways today’s methamphetamine problems mirrored the policing he did when the use of heroin was rife in the 1980s – but there was a fundamental difference.
“They're all just real people who, for whatever reason, are now trapped in this thing right? Back in those days, yep, they were shoplifting full noise, they were stealing and doing all sorts of stuff to pay for the addiction – and that's kind of what we're seeing now.
“But it’s the power and influence piece that's the bit that's concerning. When you sit down talking to mayors and they're telling you the gang runs the town, that is really seriously concerning.”
"Let's be very clear... the gangs across New Zealand pretty much own the meth market." – Greg Williams, NZ Police
He said if communities weren’t addicted to meth, gangs would lose their financial lifeline.
“There are lots of ways that gangs make money, right ... but the big ticket item that arrived in this country that changed everything for them was methamphetamine. It was like nothing they'd ever seen before.”
He said essentially cartels operating across the country kept prices high, even with wholesale rates dropping as manufacturing increased around the world.
“There’s real money to be made. We had a load of 613 kilograms come in earlier this year and our projection was that cost them about $5 million to land it and that was going to turn over into $122 million.
“That's $122m of money drawn out of our communities... not going where it should be going but going to these groups."
He said getting people off methamphetamine was tough, but possible, as shown with the Te Ara Oranga treatment programme in Northland and recently started up in Murupara.
“We briefed the Minister of Police off the back of this paper, about those opportunities, whether it's Te Ara Oranga or other health-based initiatives... this is a must in terms of rolling this treatment program out.”
He said if people were not addicted, gangs would lose their hold over certain communities.
“Let's be very clear ... the gangs across New Zealand pretty much own the meth market.”
Te Ara Oranga
A joint report from the NZ Drug Foundation and the Helen Clark Foundation recently called for Te Ara Oranga to be rolled out nationwide.
Drug Foundation executive director Sarah Helm said there had been positive feedback to the report since it was published earlier this week.
“We're hearing positive noises from both sides of the house about Te Ara Oranga. It was started under the National government and it's been continued and extended at least to one area under this Government. We are very, very keen to see Te Ara Oranga specifically rolled out nationwide in a more urgent fashion.
“Because it's a no brainer. It reduces criminality which people are so concerned about crime at the moment, well let’s do the thing that’s going to work. And secondly, the return on investments are ridiculous. It will cost something like $40m to $45m and have a return of investment of at least $150m. So why are we waiting? I'm really confused about that."
She said letting evidence-based reporting, like the work police was doing, lead the way was a no-brainer.
“We really want to understand and create interventions that are going to reduce drug harm instead of knee-jerk activity that may actually exacerbate harm.
“And, one of the things that evidence shows is that, basically, convictions do nothing to deter youth and you can sort of feel it when you read the study ... you can see people's lives spiralling out of control, just by reading the numbers.
“So what can we do to stop that spiralling - instead of compounding it with convictions, fines, and penalties?”
Tough on crime
Two years ago Professor Joe Boden of Otago University released findings also linking meth to violence, and now sits on the steering group for the police work.
He said evidence-based intel was becoming more widely used.
“This is absolutely crucial. I think the evidence-based policing centre, which I've now been interacting with a couple of years, is a really promising step forward for the police in terms of informing their work operationally but also interacting with policymakers and the community about really understanding what's happening out there, rather than making blanket statements.
“There's a lot of rhetoric around crime and violence and drugs and a lot of it is completely inaccurate.”
He urged policy-makers and politicians to stick to the facts when it came to “tough on crime” talk particularly in the lead-up to the election.
“This whole tough on crime rhetoric is completely misplaced because we know that is not the answer to many of these things, including drugs.
“And I think some of the insights coming out of the [evidence-based police centre] are telling us that and it shows a willingness of the police to actually start operating in the modern world, rather than being a tool of whatever flavour of government is in at the time.”
Williams just wants people addicted to meth to be able to get their lives back.
“Behind all of this are people right? So, this is a pretty significant piece of work and understanding what is a driver of crime in that sense, because the purpose of the whole meth project is to absolutely do what evidence-based policing is about which is to do these deep dives into components of what's happening in society to understand what is actually happening, and therefore make really clear decisions on how we might respond to them.
“That's why this is so important.”
The Methamphetamine in New Zealand Research Programme was set up in February 2020. The research is supported and guided by a steering group with representatives from government agencies, non-government organisations (including the New Zealand Drug Foundation), universities and iwi.
