Experts welcome $20m cocaine bust

Mount Maunganui GP Tony Farrell says cocaine might not be hugely popular in Tauranga but it was highly addictive and "trouble" for people caught in its grip. Photo/file

Experts at the coalface of drug addiction in Tauranga say this week's $20 million cocaine bust has helped prevent the exploitation of vulnerable people.

Mount Maunganui GP Tony Farrell, who specialises in addiction services, said although clinically there was not a huge problem with the drug in Tauranga, it had potential to do real damage.

On Wednesday, police and customs seized $20m worth of cocaine from a ship at the Port of Tauranga. Four men appeared in Tauranga District Court yesterday on multiple charges relating to importing the drug for supply.

Farrell said the bust was a good thing.

"Not many people take it because it's expensive and short-acting. But if they got addicted, they would have big trouble with it."

Farrell said he was aware of patients using cocaine but most chose cheaper drugs such as methamphetamine and ecstasy.

Cocaine is an anaesthetic as well as a stimulant and euphoriant. It is understood to also cost more than twice as much as methamphetamine.

"It's good they got that bust. A huge amount would expose the population to a highly addictive substance," Farrell said.

Get Smart Tauranga manager Stuart Caldwell said, from his perspective, cocaine was not a major issue locally.

The drug and alcohol support service is a mainstream youth agency and in the past year had encountered one person who used cocaine "and even that was only a casual use".

Cocaine busts on the rise

The global cocaine interception rate, based on cocaine production estimates and quantities of cocaine seized, reached a level of between 43 and 68 per cent in 2014.

A total of 153 countries reported cocaine seizures over the period 2009 to 2014.

In Oceania, which includes New Zealand, cocaine seizures more than doubled, from an annual average of 0.5 tonnes from 1998 to 2008 to 1.2 tonnes from 2009 to 2014.

The increase is in line with reports of rapidly growing prevalence of cocaine use.

Source - United National World Drug Report