Plea for drug shake up in NZ 

A plea has been made at parliament for a major shake up in the way New Zealand fights methamphetamine use.

Methcon, a drug consultancy group run by former police officers, has told MPs that New Zealand is considered to have some of the highest prevalence of methamphetamine in the world and it is second only to cannabis for illicit drug use rates.

Former policeman and director of the MethCon Group, Mike Sabin, presented 21 recommendations to parliament's Law and Order Select Committee which advocate a zero tolerance approach to drug use.

Sabin says the current focus on harm minimisation needs to be abandoned and replaced by harm elimination.

He is also recommending restrictions and electronic monitoring on the sale of the ingredients used to make methamphetamine, introduction of drug treatment courts, a national drug office reporting to the Prime Minister and random drug testing of students.

Sabin's recommendations follow 18 months of research which looked into the problem with methamphetamine - or P as it is commonly known - in New Zealand and overseas.

The study focused on methods that do and do not work and was aimed at giving legislators a blueprint of proven strategies to solve New Zealand's P crisis.

Its use is associated with health risks, with chronic usage often leading to anti-social and violent behaviour and serious mental illness. There are also downstream socio-economic consequences such as increasing crime, prison populations and court cases.

Sabin says the approach slashed America's slashed P use by 25% in four years. 

"It's a simple economic equation - the demand is what drives the supply. The only hard drug you can cook on your kitchen bench," he says.

However not everyone agrees with the methods suggested.

New Zealand Drug Foundation spokesman Ross Bell says the US is the last place New Zealand should look to for solutions.

"You only need to look at the number of people locked up in the United States for drug issues - that is not a response to the drug issues. "Fighting a war on drugs", these kind of tough words sound good but they are not effective," says Bell.

Sabin's report says P costs New Zealand more than half a billion dollars each year, and has been a serious problem for the past five years.

But the government claims it is on top of it.

"I must admit I always have a bit of suspicion about people who are in the business of being paid as consultants to do this sort of work, who then come along with a great plan," says Jim Anderton, Associate Health Minister.