Meth is a highly addictive drug that is most often smoked using a glass pipe.
New Zealand Herald file photograph by Mike Scott
Meth is a highly addictive drug that is most often smoked using a glass pipe.
New Zealand Herald file photograph by Mike Scott
Wastewater testing has revealed in the second half of last year New Zealand consumed meth at the highest levels ever recorded.
Just over 15kg of meth was being detected each week in June 2024.
But the next month, meth use nearly doubled to 29.2kg each week. The trendcontinued for the rest of the year with weekly consumption above 30kg each month until December.
A new peak of 39.2kg was recorded in October – nearly double the previous record of 20.6kg in September 2021 during Auckland’s Covid lockdown.
Herald investigative reporter Jared Savage told The Front Page it is definitely New Zealand’s “drug of choice”.
" The world is awash with drugs. A huge amount is being produced overseas. And that has been sent to New Zealand in an increasingly large amount. The market here is saturated, it’s been flooded with methamphetamine and other drugs, and that has led to more supply equals lower price, equals more consumption," he said.
Meth is now the cheapest it has ever been in New Zealand, according to the country’s leading drug researcher, Professor Chris Wilkins.
The New Zealand Drug Trends Survey 2024 showed the average price of a gram of meth declined from $563 in 2017/18 to $360 in 2024.
The average price of a point (0.1g) of meth declined from $101 to $78.
“Even though the prices have come down in New Zealand, they are still high compared internationally. So it’s a small market but seen as lucrative. That is why we’ve been targeted.
“There are Mexican cartels, Southeast Asian organised crime groups who work hand-in-glove with sort of organised crime figures here, including outlaw motorcycle groups, in particular, the Comancheros and some of those other 501 gangs that have true international connections with these groups overseas, and that’s elevated the supply and led to what we’re seeing,” Savage said.
According to the Australian Federal Police, 70% of the methamphetamine they seized in 2022-23 was from Mexico, the US and Canada, and Mexican cartels are selling methamphetamine at less than a third of the price of their Asian rivals.
NZ Customs and Police have consistently seized over 1500kg of meth per year for the last three years compared with less than 500kg in 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Savage said there seems to be another record-breaking drug bust every year.
" I’ve been reporting on these issues for around 15 years. Back then, 1kg was quite a big deal. The record back then, and for many years, was back in 2006 95 kilos of methamphetamine coming in from China. It was seen as an outlier for about 10 years.
" Then we saw 501kg wash up on the beach, that famous case, Operation Frontier up in Northland. From then, 500kg seizures are almost routine. Certainly, 100kg is routine now.
“I think the biggest at the border seizure was about 713kg hidden inside maple syrup bottles that had been imported from Canada. Although it’s suspected the meth would have been shipped from Mexico up to Canada, then to New Zealand where it was caught,” he said.
Police bust captures over 700kg of methamphetamine hidden in maple syrup. Photo / NZME
Big busts
In 2016, 501kg of meth was smuggled from a “mother ship” off the coast of Ninety Mile Beach in Northland.
A bust in 2019 saw about 469kg of methamphetamine stashed inside a shipment of electric motors.
The same year, Customs found 110kg of meth concealed inside golf cart batteries imported from the US.
In 2022, Police along with Customs intercepted 613kg of meth arriving at Auckland Airport, worth $245 million.
The country’s largest seizure of meth, for now, is the 2023 interception of 713kg of meth in a shipment of maple syrup bottles from Canada.
Last year, New Zealand authorities were involved in a global operation that seized 1400 tonnes of drugs. The operation involved 62 countries and stopped six semi-submersible vessels, including one “heading to Australia and New Zealand”.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about meth in New Zealand and what authorities are doing to stop it
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
