Drug users warn of dangerous speed

By SCOTT MacLEOD and PATRICK GOWER

Drug users are warning of a deadly batch of speed they believe has killed three people and made others sick.

Prostitutes say the dead include two colleagues who died after taking methamphetamine, better known as speed.

Rumours on the street are of a strange powder said to change colour when burned, and users who suffered headaches, swollen glands and comas.

The Herald found details of two prostitutes who may have died after taking the drug, but the third victim is a mystery.

The most recent suspected victim was a 17-year-old prostitute, who died last Monday. She was found lying on a bed in a central Auckland halfway house.

Police are still investigating the death, but the Herald understands speed, cannabis and chemicals linked to the party drug Ecstasy were found in an initial blood sample. The woman may have drowned in her own vomit.

The second suspected victim was a 50-year-old prostitute who worked the streets around Karangahape Rd. She died nine days ago.



Another user was said to have gone into a coma for five hours.

Police said they were unaware of a bad batch on the street, but could not rule out the possibility. The two prostitute deaths were still being investigated.

One prostitute, who did not want to be named, said lots of bad speed was available. The Auckland Drug Information Outreach Trust needle exchange centre in Grey Lynn last week posted a sign on its counter warning of the bad speed.

Trust manager Karen Blacklock said one client had phoned to say his partner had died after taking the tainted drug.

The manufacture and use of speed has mushroomed in the past five years.

The number of users is unknown, but an estimated 67 speed labs have been busted this year, compared with fewer than 41 for the whole of last year.

Speed is usually sold as a white powder to be snorted, smoked or injected.

Detective Sergeant Mike Beal, of the Auckland drug squad, said users occasionally complained of a bad batch that had nasty after-effects.

One factor that could make speed more dangerous was the process of "washing" - separating the speed from impurities. If done poorly, the drug could be tainted with chemicals such as acetone or toluene.

Detective Senior Sergeant Stu Allsopp-Smith said the "lack of controls, quality and qualifications" in the speed-making industry meant users were "playing Russian roulette".

* scott_macleod@nzherald.co.nz