Kerre Woodham: Why put money back in the pockets of users?

So the government's Sunday sessions this year have involved announcements of all sorts of policies, ranging from ho-hum to meaningful.The announcement yesterday of the action plan against organised crime comes under the meaningful. Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith released what he called a bold and comprehensive action plan that aimed to disrupt supply, go after those who profit from the drug trade and rebuild communities afflicted by meth, as he outlined to Mike Hosking on the Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning.

This is a scourge on society that we need to keep on battling against every day, finding new ways to combat the organised criminals who are doing this, but also dealing with the you know, better rehabilitation and actually for the first time sending a clear message through a hard-hitting media campaign, this is not a good idea to get involved with in any way, shape or form.

Paul, in all honesty, is a hard-hitting media campaign to your average, you know, dare I suggest unemployed, go nowhere meth addict. Is that going to make one jot of difference?

No, but it may stop some people taking the risk. And no single thing on its own is going to solve the problem. Of course, a campaign's not going to deal with a hardened sort of meth addict, but there may be a young person who's thinking about it, who if they get a clear message, this is not something you could use moderately, it's not something just to have a bit of a dabble with, it's something to avoid at all costs because some people, just one shot's enough to lead to a decade-long spiral of chaos and destruction, and that's what we want to send a clear message about.

I don't know how you can not know that there's a very high chance that dabbling in meth can bring about ruin. Of course, not everybody who tries meth will see their life fall apart, but the odds are not great. Any drug, any misuse of a drug can bring about ruin. But meth seems to be particularly high in terms of getting its claws into people and consuming them, taking them over completely. You're not consuming the drug, it's consuming you.

And it's not, your no-hopers that Mike Hosking referred to that end up destroyed by meth. It's all strata of society. You might end up a no-hoper, but you started off with jobs and businesses and companies and families and friends and a great lifestyle, gone.

How can you not know that? I mean, in the early, early, early days, maybe what, 20 odd years ago, you might have thought, oh, okay, it's a new drug, I'll give it a try. I've tried other drugs and I'm on top of that and, you know, all the go-ask-gala scare campaigns that people try to use - I'm sophisticated, I know what I'm doing, you know, and then people come a cropper because they didn't know what they were dealing with. Now you do. You know exactly what harm it can cause and you're still going to give it a try? Really? The media campaign, while it will probably bolster our coffers, seems a waste of time.  

The rest of it, well, it makes sense. Policing, border security and addiction services will join forces to combat importation, distribution and demand. Customs, Defence and the GCSB will run a series of maritime operations across the Pacific, partnering to collect intelligence and identify drug smugglers on the water.They'll try to find, deter and disrupt shipments before they reach New Zealand. Well, good luck with that, because the drugs come in from Central and South America in a corridor down through the South Pacific where traffickers will use tiny atolls and islands that are part of the Cooks or Tonga or Samoa as refuelling and staging points.

Back in 2019, I talked about this with Jose Suza Santos and he talked about the corridor that was well established in 2019 and about the damage being done to Pacific nations with this drugs corridor because of course they'll try it too. They will take the drugs, they'll take their cut, everybody takes a cut along the way, and drugs are apparently a huge problem in Fiji, taking a hold in Samoa, Tonga and the like.

So six years later, this government is finally doing something in an attempt to disrupt the drug smugglers.The more aggressive stance will be supported by plans to strengthen search and surveillance powers. There'll be the expansion of electronic interception (hello GCSB), and speed up asset seizures under the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act.

There'll be a new police money laundering team to chase the cash behind organized crime and offshore police liaison officers looking at the syndicates logistics and banking networks.

The plan puts $30 million out of the mental health and addiction budget over four years into treatment and early intervention services in communities that are hit hardest by meth, and there'll be a nearly $6 million national prevention campaign paid for with the seized proceeds of crime.

We've seen a sharp rise in drug harm. Wastewater testing showing meth use roughly doubled between 23 and 24. And officials estimate the social harm from meth and other illicit drugs at $1.5 billion in 2024.

We know this. We know the harm it causes. We know that meth is a really, really dangerous drug to dabble in. Why are people still running that risk? What is what do you need to block out, numb, void from your life with meth? Is it worry over your business, worry over your job, worry over a relationship? Just opting out of being a parent, opting out of life?

It's miserable, it's hard. You can have a couple of hours of oblivion and you'll do whatever it takes to get outside of your own head. I don't know, I just cannot understand why you would do it. And why would you would put money in the pockets of these people?

So the recommendations come from advice received from an expert ministerial advisory group that was tasked with advising on how New Zealand security agencies could better respond to organised crime and work together to do so.

So the recommendations such as the maritime patrols, the greater powers to go after the proceeds of crime, the electronic surveillance, come from the Ministerial Advisory Group's report.

Other suggestions weren't picked up on. A Minister of Organised Crime, for example, was recommended to coordinate the 13 agencies that will be charged with battling the cartels. It's a start. It's I mean, I would almost say that the horse has bolted. That corridor is well established. I don't know how you would go about patrolling the many, many islands and atolls of the South Pacific.

But why? why? why? why? when you know what's happened to the to people who thought they could try it and control it and just use it as a bit of harmless fun, why would you put money into the pockets of these people?W hat is so awful about your life that you're willing to dance with the devil? 

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