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If elected in October, National would implement the ‘Matrix Methamphetamine Treatment Pilot Program’ at five District Health Boards (DHBs) in 11 locations to provide direct support to those recovering from methamphetamine use.
A $ 50 million fund would be established to pilot new or expanded harm reduction programs across the community, and 13 detox beds would be established to ensure all DHBs are available to assist with inpatient methamphetamine detoxification. .
National would also increase funding for drug intelligence to enable customs, law enforcement and health authorities to better identify drugs entering New Zealand.
More drug dogs would be brought into airports, while police and health would get more funding to identify new drugs and defective batches sooner, and a new strategy would be worked out to try to reduce methamphetamine use in prisons.
“There is no one-size-fits-all solution to what has become a scourge for our society,” national leader Judith Collins said Monday. “A National Government will address this problem from all angles, attending to both demand and supply.”
National’s plan is to address both the demand and supply of methamphetamine in New Zealand.
“We will use the full force of the criminal justice system to crack down on drug lords, and we will use the health and social sector to offer a more compassionate and systematic approach for drug users to receive treatment and help them regain their identity. health, “says the policy. .
National’s Methamphetamine Reduction Policy:
- Implement the ‘Matrix’ rehab program at five DHBs in 11 locations to support methamphetamine addicts
- Add 13 Detox Beds for Methamphetamine Addicts in New Zealand
- Have at least one full-time DHB specialist to help with detoxification.
- Establish a disputable $ 50 million fund to pilot new or expanded harm reduction programs for the entire community.
- Increase funding for drug intelligence so that customs, police and health authorities can identify drugs arriving in New Zealand and identify new drugs and defective batches sooner.
- Deploy more drug dogs at airports
- Try to decrease the use of methamphetamine in prisons
The prevalence of methamphetamine in New Zealand communities has a massive impact on families, as Newshub’s national correspondent Patrick Gower revealed in his special investigation in July.
The border closure due to COVID-19 has forced criminals to rethink hard drug supply lines, with Customs seizing 109 kilograms of methamphetamine in the six months to the end of June, up from 590 kilograms for the same period. from last year.
But police arrested 38 methamphetamine labs between January and June, 15 more than last year, showing how the drug is manufactured locally.
“There can be no tolerance for the trafficking and supply of methamphetamine. Those who sell this drug are responsible for the misery and social damage it causes,” says National Justice spokesman Simon Bridges.
“We will develop the capacity to intercept the international crime cartels that are bringing this problem to our shores. Good intelligence and international cooperation will be a priority under National.”
The government announced $ 20 million in July for nine community schemes addressing methamphetamine use in Northland, Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay, Tairāwhiti, and Otago.
But National is criticizing the government for canceling National’s Methamphetamine Action Plan, announced by former Prime Minister John Key in 2009, which set aside $ 10 million each year from proceeds made up of seized criminal money.
According to a cabinet document shown to Stuff, the government canceled the program because it considered that “a more broad-based approach to crime-related damages was needed.”
With methamphetamine as the most commonly detected illicit drug across the country and recent sewage testing estimating it accounts for more than half of the drugs detected in New Zealand, National wants to crack down on unifying government resources to eradicate it.
National wants to invest in the latest innovations and technology and deploy them in New Zealand’s airports, ports and distribution centers, where the majority of drug shipments are likely to go undetected.
It would also crack down on illegal cash smuggling and money laundering to prevent Chinese and South American unions and New Zealand gangs from “realizing super profits” from methamphetamine distribution.
The data and artificial intelligence would be used to analyze drug use, criminal networks, and supply patterns, so that law enforcement agencies could better disrupt both supply and demand.
National released its law and order policy last month, which included a proposal to help fund the relocation of recently released prisoners so they can get a fresh start.
