The latest weapons in the police crime fighting arsenal are containers to gather samples from Auckland's wastewater treatment plants. Analysis of the contents should throw light on the current variety of illicit drugs being consumed and whether investigators need to alter their enforcement strategies. It might sound far-fetched, but the chemical analysis of urban wastewater for traces of illegal drugs has shown promise elsewhere for keeping track of patterns and trends in illegal drug consumption.
New Zealand is far from immune from the social and health costs imposed by illicit drug use. One study commissioned by the New Zealand Police put the cost at $1.3 billion. These were measurable impacts, and included the cost of crime related to drug use, the burden on the health system and the loss of workplace productivity. Beyond these costs, there were less easily calculated effects of family turmoil and upset personal circumstances which flow from heavy drug consumption. The picture, undeniably, is that illicit drug use carries a hefty financial and social price tag, for users and the wider community.
There is little doubt many New Zealanders are attracted to illicit drugs. A report by the Ministry of Health concluded about half of all adult New Zealanders - around 1.4 million people - have used illegal drugs. In one year, nearly half a million people admitted using banned substances, mostly cannabis. The police research should produce a snapshot of what is being consumed both in Auckland and Christchurch, which is also included in the new study. There are no civil liberties concerns, given that the focus is on patterns of use in the wider community, rather than individual households or student flats.
In this sense the new approach is a step ahead of existing practice, which is handicapped by the obvious challenge of trying to get a handle on private, illegal behaviour and the shortcomings in the validity of self-reported data.
And there might be some real returns, especially if the science reveals new substances or altered habits of drug-taking. The illicit drug industry knows no bounds when it tries to elude detection as it brings new products to market. What criminal enterprises cannot cheat, however, is human biology and the metabolic residues individuals produce after ingesting substances. Just as drugs are consumed, then they must be expelled. In other words you can hide, but you must use the loo. Here the tools of the emerging science of wastewater epidemiology will come in to play and identify the current range of illicit products in the city by putting its muck under the microscope.
