We're winning drug battle, says Key

The Fire Service's hazard unit helps police with a bust on a suspected P lab in Northolt Rd in Hamilton. Photo / Sarah Ivey

The Government says increased hauls of methamphetamine and tens of millions of dollars of drug-related asset seizures this year show its co-ordinated attack on P is working.

The second six-monthly progress report on the Tackling Methamphetamine campaign revealed that 25kg of the drug has been seized this year by police and Customs staff.

Last year's haul was less than 20kg.

The average price of P was $738 a gram in April. By last month it had fallen slightly to $723.

But it is still above the $698 a gram 2008 "baseline" measure. At the street level, the price of a "point", or a tenth of a gram of P, was $107, up $7 on six months ago and up $11 on 2008.

"It's not getting cheaper for people wanting to feed their habit," Prime Minister John Key said yesterday.

"I think we are making progress, which is why the price has stayed at that high level and why the seizure rate is much higher.

"If you just look at the enormous amount of meth that we've taken out of circulation, that tells you that we're doing a pretty good job."

It was not known how much methamphetamine was being imported or manufactured locally undetected by authorities.

But despite this, "you can say the ... nature of the plan is delivering results", Mr Key said.

Police had raided and dismantled 105 clandestine meth labs this year, up 11 on the same time last year.

Locally obtained pseudoephedrine - one of the basic ingredients for P - was found at about a third of those labs, and Mr Key said he was sure the ban on over-the-counter sales of pseudoephedrine, which comes into force next year, would affect manufacturers.

Police had also identified and were securing $48 million worth of assets believed to have been obtained through criminal activity.

Of this, $30.6 million was believed to be from P-related offending.

On the treatment side of the programme, 60 new beds for people seeking help with P addiction had been created, ahead of schedule.

They were now filled, and waiting lists for treatment had been shortened.

But methamphetamine and drug policy specialist Mike Sabin said that if the price, purity and availability of the drug remained little changed, "that would indicate to me that the market is still pretty stable".

"What you're looking for is quite significant shifts," he said. A doubling of the price or a halving of purity would be a respectable result.

Mr Sabin, a former police officer, believed the police and other agencies involved in the year-old crackdown were still playing catch-up on years of a significant hiatus in action against the drug during the early 2000s.

"They're now getting increased interceptions but it's not taking the market off at the knees."

During the enforcement hiatus, Mr Sabin said, demand for the drug increased enormously as recreational users became addicted. This fuelled the supply side now being targeted in the Government's policy.

"I think there would great gains to be had in reducing demand, and that's really around social marketing, education and so forth."

Signs of a clan lab:
Source NZ Police

• Chemical smells coming from a house or building. The smells can be sweet, bitter, ammonia or solvent smells.
• Exhaust fans running at odd times.
• Lots of rubbish around the outside of a house, garage or detached building on a property - especially empty containers or chemical containers.
• People visiting at unusual times
• Blacked out windows or curtains drawn all day.

Anyone who has information about a clan lab can call a local police station or the anonymous police Crimestoppers line on 0800 555 111.