West Auckland is home to unwelcome residents: the highest number of P labs in the country. Rowena Orejana reports on community efforts to mop up the damage illegal drugs do to children.
Children gather around Harold the Giraffe. He provides a positive note in what can sometimes be a discordant life.
Methamphetamine, or P, is a problem West Auckland children are having to deal with. A P pipe was found in one school last year. The principal says the school is next door to a takeaway shop and people from other areas walk through.
"Primary and intermediate schools around Waitakere have a great deal of problems with P, not with the children, but with their parents who are using the drug," says Catherine Simpson, executive officer of Life Education Trust in Waitakere. The trust has just marked its 20th year.
In the year ending June 2010, police recorded the highest number of busts at P manufacturing labs in the Waitemata district, which covers the North Shore and West Auckland.
Methcon is a company specialising in providing drug education, advice and training in how to deal with methamphetamine and other addictive drugs.
Its managing director, Dale Kirk, confirms Waitakere has the higher percentage of meth usage in the district's two areas. Police recently raided a Headhunters headquarters in Henderson, recovering $1 million worth of P.
"New Zealand is now in the unenviable position of being one of the worst countries in the world for addiction to methamphetamine," says Mr Kirk.
A former police detective and a specialist in clandestine meth labs, Mr Kirk explains methamphetamine is commonly manufactured in makeshift laboratories.
These are difficult to identify as they may be anything from a full-scale commercial laboratory to a few bottles, dishes and hoses.
"Waitakere has the highest number of meth labs with the existence of Headhunters in the area," he says.
The police have raided 189 meth labs in Waitemata, about 20 more than in South Auckland.
Mr Kirk says his firm offers education so people will have a greater grasp of how the drug works.
"Nine out of 10 people who try methamphetamine go on to continue using the drug, addiction often occurring very quickly without the user's knowledge or understanding."
The drug, he adds, is a deceiver and quickly traps the user into a cycle of psychological dependency as it destroys the organic tissue in the brain responsible for pleasure.
As adults remain in this vicious cycle, their children also become victims.
"P is a big problem in Waitakere not only for adults. A lot of children are losing their parents and their homes to this drug and are being raised by their grandparents," observes Mrs Simpson. She points out that a small part of the trust's programme is to help increase children's understanding of the negative effects illegal drugs have on people. The programme is available to intermediate students.
"We explore the effects of legal and illegal substances in the body. We also teach them how to say no to drugs."
The trust helps children by giving them an appreciation of themselves as individuals.
"We are a totally positive preventative programme," says Mrs Simpson. "We want to teach children the wonder of life."
Choose life
Life Education Trust offers 19 modules to help improve children's overall self-esteem
and give them a positive personal outlook.
"A lot of parents don't know us. For one, they think we only deal with the issue of drugs,'' says Catherine Simpson. "We deal with more than just drug problems. We help children through social relationships, how to deal with bullying, being friendly as opposed to being a friend.''
Harold the Giraffe, the trust's famous mascot, helps with the lessons. With his long neck and big heart he encourages children to look up and be kind.
"In each classroom, there could be three children crying inside. They wouldn't tell anyone,'' says Mrs Simpson. "There are a lot of negative influences around them and we try to help them, not by scaring them, but by pointing out the positive things in them.''
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