Northland's meth crisis: 'There's no magic wand for any of this'

Organisations trying to help people get off meth in Northland towns like Kaikohe say they are overwhelmed by "a tsunami of need".

More funding - and residential care for addicts trying to quit - is desperately needed to tackle the problem, they say.

Wastewater testing has shown methamphetamine use tripled in Northland last year, which now has the unenviable title of meth capital of New Zealand.

Tia Ashby heads Te Hau Ora o Ngāpuhi, a Kaikohe-based iwi organisation that provides housing, health services and programmes like Paiheretia, which helps men caught up in the Corrections system.

She said the meth crisis was "real, complex and growing".

"We see the daily toll it takes on whānau, on their wairua, their homes and their hope. We do what we can, but the reality is, the demand is outpacing our capacity," she said.

"We're just not funded at the scale needed to respond to the tsunami of need we are facing."

Jade and Scott - they did not want to give their last names, because their work brings them into contact with organised crime - are employed by Te Hau Ora o Ngāpuhi as kaiarataki, or navigators, helping meth addicts and their whānau get the help they need.

Jade said the problem was getting worse, and the money spent on drugs meant other family members missed out on essentials.

"The biggest thing that we see is the effect on the kids, on the mokos. You've got whānau that are going without kai, the living conditions can be appalling. It's a real pandemic, you could call it, and has some real atrocious effects."

Scott said the men they helped came with a whole raft of problems, including homelessness, poor health, mental distress, and crime.

But when they burrowed deeper, they often found the underlying cause was meth.

Scott said there were many reasons behind the drug's prevalence.

"Obviously, the cost of living out there. High unemployment. And people's trauma as well. It's about unpacking it all to find out why people are addicted to methamphetamine. It ruins households, it ruins families, it ruins communities, it brings crime. Nothing will ever end good unless people stop taking it."

Ashby said the government's Resilience to Organised Crime in Communities ROCC programme, which had so far been rolled out in seven regions across New Zealand, was a good start.

Although still in its early stages, ROCC aimed to stop people becoming addicted in the first place.

"It will build up resilience within whānau and prevent rangatahi [youth] from ever wanting to pick up the pipe, by making sure they're on the right pathway for education or employment, and not being led by gangs," Ashby said.

"The focus needs to be upstream, we don't want to be the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff all the time. But the reality is, those who have addiction need support now. There's no magic wand for any of this."

While ROCC was "a step in the right direction", more and sustainable investment in prevention was needed.

Also desperately needed was comprehensive, culturally responsive residential treatment in mid-Northland for people who wanted to come off drugs.

Currently most providers of those services, such as Grace Foundation and Higher Ground, were based in Auckland.

Ashby said everyone would have to work together to tackle the meth conundrum.

Police, MSD, iwi, Māori providers and local services such as Whakaoranga Whānau Recovery Hub were doing their best with the resources they had, she said.

"But without the right tools, good intentions can only go so far. It's time to match the scale of the response with the scale of the need."

While the meth problem was not new, it hit headlines last month when Ngāpuhi chairman Mane Tahere made a public call for more policing and direct funding for iwi organisations whose work was slowed by government red tape.

Northland MP Grant McCallum subsequently met Tahere and Far North Mayor Moko Tepania, who lives in Kaikohe, as well as staff at the local medical centre.

He was shocked by the stories they told him.

They included accounts of a young man high on meth assaulting staff and "causing mayhem" at the medical clinic, and of drug-induced family dysfunction with girls as young as 11 becoming pregnant.

"But the thing that just got me is, you know how when we were growing up, your dad might give you a sip of his beer or something when you're a young kid? Well, in some families, they're giving him a little bit of P."

McCallum said he was pleased Tahere and Ngāpuhi were standing up and saying they had had enough.

"We have to try and break this cycle. It won't be fixed in five minutes, but we have to start, and one of the key things we've got to do to help break that cycle is get children to school and keep them there," McCallum said.

In the longer term, he said the answer lay in a stronger local economy and a good education system, so people in towns like Kaikohe had well-paying jobs and children had options for their future.

"But ultimately - and this applies to any community, we're not picking on Kaikohe here, it's just the first cab off the rank - the community has to own this problem. If they don't want drugs in their community, they need to make it clear they don't want it in their community. And they need to push back and feed information through to the police when they find people dealing."

During a recent visit to Whangārei, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said the government was focussed on trying to stop drugs entering the border, coming down hard on dealers and organised crime, and taking a health-led approach to drug users.

Although wastewater testing had shown a big jump in meth use, other data showed the number of users had not increased significantly.

That suggested the same group of people was taking more meth, he said.

Doocey offered a sliver of hope to organisations like Te Hau Ora o Ngāpuhi, who were calling out for more funding to prevent people becoming addicted in the first place.

"We're looking at the Proceeds of Crime Fund to fund some of that. When you look at some of the high-need areas like Northland, it will be a more targeted response. Also, we'll be looking at how we can resource existing services on the ground, who are already delivering, to scale up to the need," he said.

The Proceeds of Crime Fund, which reopened recently for applications after a three-year freeze, would now focus on reducing violent crime.

Such crime was often driven by drugs, Doocey said.

Meanwhile, back on the front line, Jade said collective action and more funding were vital.

"I'm not sure that heavy handedness in the justice system, and filling the jails in a system that isn't working for our people anyway, is the right solution," he said.

"It's going to get worse unless we can get ahead of it, and work together in the same direction. I'm not saying we haven't done that in the past but it's going to need an even more collective approach. And I'm hoping people come with wallets open because it's going to need to be funded."

Scott highlighted the need for comprehensive residential treatment in Northland, so people didn't need to have to be shipped off to Auckland for help.

"You'll never stop drugs, but we can come together and try to minimise it. What that looks like, I don't know. Police are obviously under the pump out there, like everyone else," he said.

"I think we need some more healing centres for whānau up here in Kaikohe. I don't like using the word rehabilitation. What's needed is a one-stop shop where people can reside, they can heal, get counselling, work on physical fitness, and the kids can go to school."

Whatever the answer, for the kids Scott and Jade see every day, it can not come soon enough.

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