Flavell takes aim at addiction (+video)

Maori Party co-leader and Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell says he is sick and tired of attending tangi of Maori who have died as a result of their addictions.

Mr Flavell made the comments when he opened the Cutting Edge Addiction Conference at the Rotorua Energy Events Centre yesterday. The conference will run until tomorrow.

As a member of the Maori Party, Mr Flavell said he witnessed two extremes of life for
Maori in New Zealand.

"We see the greatest things that happen in this country . . . but, my gosh, we see the things that really hurt people in their hearts and their minds and their souls," Mr Flavell said.

"We talk about them everyday in Parliament."

The survival of the Maori population and culture was the main focus of the Maori Party and addiction was a barrier to that goal, he said.

"Addictions sometimes kill our people, kill my people-and therefore they kill our nation."

Mr Flavell said he was sick and tired of attending the tangi of people who had died from complications with addictions. Illnesses related to smoking were "the biggest killer of Maori" according to Mr Flavell.

"Maori are represented disproportionately in many of the negative statistics of this country," he said. "Maori adults are almost three times as likely as non-Maori adults to smoke . . . Maori are twice as likely to binge drink. Maori communities are three to four times more likely to have gambling problems."

"These addictions are getting worse and we need to take action as soon as we can."

Action the Maori Party had already taken to beat addiction included successfully campaigning for plain cigarette packaging and an increase in the price of tobacco, and its ongoing push to raise the drinking age from 18 to 20.

"We're doing our best but there is still so much work to be done."

Mr Flavell said poverty and culture were the leading factors of addiction for Maori. He would take any suggestions made at the conference to Parliament.