Collins told a media pack following her campaign at the Napier War Memorial Conference Centre that wastewater testing showed meth now accounts for more than half of NZ's detected drugs, and caused up to $1b a year in social harm.
"What the numbers hide is the individual tragedy and the tragedies of those who fall victim to meth, the families ripped apart by meth and the victims who suffer the consequences of violent attacks. We cannot continue to say it is too hard to do anything about it.
Collins, flanked by health spokesman Shane Reti, justice spokesman Simon Bridges, Tukituki MP Lawrence Yule and Napier candidate Katie Nimon, said Labour had "very quietly" rescinded National's 2017 plan to deal with meth when it came into office, and what it had created was a "piecemeal approach".
"This is a drug that affects every strata of society. Every profession, every trade, every job has this in it. It is not solely people involved in the transport industry or journalism or politics or anything like that. It is right through society."
Collins said the disruption of supply, combined with a strong health response, would be hard but it was not so hard that NZ couldn't do it.
"We've got a supposedly closed border now, it can't be that difficult can it?"
Collins said National's health response would add 13 detox beds for methamphetamine across New Zealand, ensuring every district health board has at least one and ensure at least one full-time equivalent specialist per DHB is available to assist with in-patient detoxing from methamphetamine.
It would also establish a contestable fund of $50m to pilot new or scaled-up whole-community harm reduction programmes.
Bridges said there must also be a strong response from law and order agencies to disrupt meth entering the country.
"We will build capacity to interdict the international crime cartels that are bringing this problem to our shores. Good intelligence and international co-operation will be a priority under National."
National's plan would also increase funding for police and health to identify new drugs and bad batches sooner, introduce more drug dogs at airports and ports, aiming to reduce methamphetamine use in Corrections facilities.
It would also target domestic organised crime networks with extra focus and resourcing from police.
As well as meeting with addiction advocates, Collins took time out for a tour of Napier Port and EIT.
More events, and another announcement, are scheduled for Tuesday on the campaign trail in Hawke's Bay.
She also chatted with a Hawke's Bay Today reporter about issues affecting the region.
On gangs
Collins says she is not an "apologist" for gangs which are "criminal organisations" not "social clubs".
"We're not buying this nonsense that gangs are just part of the community, they're actually not, in fact they're the antitheses of being part of the community.
"We are in this very strange situation at the moment where police sometimes I think feel that they're not being backed by their own Government. They'll know that we're backing them."
Drought
Collins said there is a water storage issue in New Zealand, particularly in Hawke's Bay and the whole East Coast of New Zealand.
Policy on water storage and its availability would be coming out, she said.
She said the Ruataniwha dam was something a lot of people in Hawke's Bay had supported and while she couldn't speak about it specifically, she said there are water storage issues which need addressing.
Water reform
Collins said the Government and Hawke's Bay councils' move to work together to improve water infrastructure "seemed like a tremendous amount of amalgamation going on."
"We've certainly learnt our lesson about trying to have anything amalgamating Napier and Hastings for instance and I think that one of the issues that the Government has to do is to grapple the fact that the local government needs be brought along on any of these plans."
"From my point of view, it's really important that we don't put sewage out in the sea, in our waterways, that we protect our waterways in that way but at the same time we need to understand that there are costs involved and that governments need to work with councils, not over top of them.
Hawke's Bay weather
"Thanks for turning the sunshine on for me," she said.
