“The ability of ESR and police to test in each area of New Zealand is determined by individual agreements with local councils and water-care providers,” a police headquarters spokesman said.
“At this stage, we have been advised that Gisborne District Council has decided not to join the national rollout.”
Police commissioner Mike Bush said wastewater testing was crucial to police understanding of drug consumption in communities.
“Expanding the programme to regional New Zealand and other major centres will help us continue to build a better picture of the prevalence of illicit drug use in New Zealand communities, as well as the subsequent social harm.”
Deputy Mayor Rehette Stoltz chaired the meeting on June 28 when the council declined to take part in the programme.
“We voted against the Local Government NZ remit for the testing of our wastewater for drugs,” she said.
“The decision was made on the basis that drug testing in the community is not part of core council business.
“However, if the initiative was resourced and paid for nationally, the council would not decline to participate,” Mrs Stoltz said.
Mayor Meng Foon said this morning councillors were not originally told there would be no cost to the council.
“More energy should be used to stop drugs coming through our borders,” Mr Foon said.
“If police have identified that so much is consumed in New Zealand, why is so much coming through the borders? We don’t grow the chemicals needed here.”
Police headquarters in Wellington issued a statement this morning about the costs involved in participating in the programme.
“Police were allocated funding of $1 million in the 2018/19 budget to expand the rollout of wastewater testing and analysis nationally.
“There are no direct costs to councils participating.”
Wastewater testing has been conducted by ESR in Auckland, Christchurch and Whangarei since 2016.
Mr Bush said analysis of samples from those sites revealed extensive and diverse patterns of drug use.
“It has significantly enhanced our understanding around the demand and supply of illicit drugs, and the impact on individual communities where testing was undertaken.
Over the past 18 months, 1.5kg of methamphetamine was estimated to have been consumed on average each week across the three test sites. This translates to an estimated $2 million a week in social harm.
“Expanding the number of sample locations will help us identify differences in drug use between geographic regions and will act as an early warning system for emerging risks,” Mr Bush said.
The drugs tested for will be methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, MDMA and Fentanyl. Cannabis testing will be introduced in Northland and Auckland, and ephedrine/pseudoephedrine at all sites.
“Results from the new testing sites will help inform prevention and treatment strategies,” Mr Bush said.
“It will also allow comparison with international data and measure the effectiveness of education and enforcement.”
• Methamphetamine use has spread throughout New Zealand and in the East Coast region the problem has soared to “epidemic proportions”.
Last year, The Herald reported the rate of Gisborne people unable to pass pre-employment and workplace drug tests because of “meth” use, had more than doubled in a year.
Data compiled by The Drug Detection Agency shows that last year Gisborne experienced a “huge” increase in results indicating the presence of methamphetamine.
