Trail of violence follows 'P' users

Smashed up hands, serious burns and cracked heads are among the injuries suffered by people high on the drug P, a new report has found.

The report, prepared for the Accident Compensation Corporation, used interviews with methamphetamine users, hospital, emergency and security staff, community workers and concert-goers.

"Hospital staff members describe witnessing injuries from fighting, falls, burns and self-inflicted harm - particularly to hands - from punching walls or windows while on the drug," said ACC research general manager Keith McLea.

Night club staff had witnessed "bloodied faces" and "cracked heads" and talked about the "suicidal" determination of some methamphetamine users to get into fights with anyone.

"They go all angry and they start walking away and shouting ... the next thing you know they've got into a fight with someone else down the road. They don't even know who they are. I've seen instances where one person wants to take anybody that comes in front of them - whether it's two or three, even four or five they still want to take them on and they don't back off," one night security worker said.

Dr McLea said counsellors regarded the intensity of symptoms as "far greater than alcohol and cannabis". P users suffered from hallucinations and heard voices, making some suicidal.

Counsellors highlighted the fact the injuries were not confined to the users but affected families and children, many of whom suffered physical injury from burns or chemicals as well as psychological trauma. One community worker said methamphetamine production was "taking out whole generations of communities" and amounted to the "murder of the community".

Emergency services staff spoke of the aggressive, irrational and unpredictable behaviour of P users and the efforts they went to to hide their offending.

"In one extreme case, they managed to put the fire out and then they packed up all the gear they had, took it away, cleaned out the house entirely and then they took the female who got burned (she had about 60 per cent burns on her) to the hospital after they had done all of that. She wasn't feeling any pain," one Fire Service worker said.

The Auckland University researchers' report, titled "Exploring Methamphetamine and Injury: Feasibility Studies of Data Collection Methods", collated data from four small pilot studies based on hospital admissions data, anecdotal accounts of P users, people who work with P users and a sample of people attending an all-day music concert.

Dr McLea said the report "laid the foundation" for more research and an ACC commitment to back goals of the Inter-Agency Committee on Drugs.