Rachel Smalley: National knows it's on solid ground with gang policy

Under National, police will be able to search the homes and cars of the most serious gang members at any time to make sure they don't have guns.

Gang members with a string of offences including serious crime convictions have fewer human rights than others.

Those were the words of Police Minister Paula Bennett at the weekend as she announced $82 million would be spent over four years, tackling the P epidemic and rehabilitating those who are hooked on it.

It's a pre-election staple that will have a lot of support in the community, the targeting of crime, drugs and gangs.

So under National, police will be able to search the homes and cars of the most serious gang members at any time to make sure they don't have guns.

Bennett says yes, that probably breaches the human rights of some criminals, but she felt it was justified because it will apply to the most serious criminals those who've already been convicted of a serious violent offence or a firearms charge.

Too bad, says Bennett. We're going in.

The human rights issue is a thorny one.

Our Human Rights Commissioner, David Rutherford last night tweeted "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights..." what we fought in world war two to preserve, he says, and what New Zealand declared in 1948.

And he's right.

But there will be few who will argue with Bennett. If you've inflicted serious harm on another or you've illegally used or been in possession of a firearm, then most will say you should face a far greater level of scrutiny than Joe Public. To that end, National knows it's on solid ground with this one.

It's this aspect of the policy that's getting the most headlines, but it shouldn't.

What is significant is the 1500 extra in-patient drug treatment placements that National will fund for those who are hooked on the hideous, destructive drug that is "P".

That's a shift.

I was talking to a woman recently who runs a major drug rehabilitation centre.

She said the addiction split use to be 50-50.

Fifty percent of the addicts she was dealing with were hooked on a drug, and the other 50 percent were addicted to alcohol.

But she said there's been a significant change in the last two to three years.

And around 10 to 15 percent are alcoholics, the other 85 to 90 percent are P addicts.

The P epidemic that police and our justice system is dealing with, is real.

But the funding of extra in-patient placements shows an increasing shift towards treating drug addiction as a public health issue, and not something to be dealt with by the justice and corrections departments.

Addiction isn't a crime. It's a sickness.

The challenge for National is to turn this into a reality. You can't magic-up 1500 extra in patient beds, nor those with the specialist skills required to treat people.

And while targeting gangs will firm up your voter base, spending money on a major national addiction centre probably won't.

But that's what the country needs.

Meth and the misery and destruction it causes sadly isn't going to go away any time soon.