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"Turn the tap off": Lack of preventative measures sees NZ struggle with meth addictions

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Fri, 2 May 2025, 10:36am
Photo / File
Photo / File

"Turn the tap off": Lack of preventative measures sees NZ struggle with meth addictions

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Fri, 2 May 2025, 10:36am

New figures on meth-use are prompting calls for more preventive action.  

Discharges from public hospitals suggest meth-use has increased four-fold over the past decade, while wastewater testing last year showed a doubling in meth use. 

Former detective and anti-meth advocate Mike Sabin told Ryan Bridge that you’ve got to turn the tap off on the supply. 

He says that New Zealand’s had a problem with meth for the last 25 years because policy is focused on harm minimisation or problem limitation, which accepts that use will happen and tries to manage it. 

Sabin says this is the wrong way to go around it, as areas such as tobacco and diabetes which have seen a reduction have been as a result of prevention. 

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