Latest news with #drugcrisis
RNZ News
12 hours ago
- RNZ News
NZ's status as a 'cash cow' of Pacific meth market driving drug crises in region
About 1.1 tonnes of methamphetamine was found concealed in containers in the Fijian town of Nadi last year. Photo: Supplied/ Fiji Police A transnational crime expert says New Zealand and Australia's status as the "cash cows" of the Pacific methamphetamine market is a driving factor in the drug crisis facing the region. Jose Sousa-Santos, associate professor of practice at the University of Canterbury's Pacific Regional Security hub, told Pacific Waves the "red flags" were evident at least five years ago. Fiji, Tonga, Sāmoa and Papua New Guinea are grappling with surging methamphetamine use in their communities. Alongside that are the health and socio-economic problems associated with the drug. Fiji has declared an HIV outbreak , which has been linked to needle sharing among drug users as well as sexual transmission of the virus. Between 2023 and 2024, HIV cases increased 281 percent in the country to 1583 new cases. Sousa-Santos said countries like Fiji and Tonga were being used as transport hubs for the flow of methamphetamine and cocaine from North and South America, and southeast Asia, to Australia and New Zealand. Precursors of the drugs were also transported away from New Zealand and Australia through the same route. Previously, that drug smuggling occurred with little impact on the smaller Pacific nations. "Chinese triads, cartels would always move the drugs through [and] their method was always to pay facilitators - either commercial elites ... people connected to the government, or in other high-levels of Pacific society ... in money." The set up resulted in "no real overflow" into Pacific communities, Sousa-Santos said. About five years ago, that changed with facilitators being offered drugs like methamphetamine as payment instead of cash. "This is where we started to see the development and the growth of a local market, not just in Fiji, but in Tonga and other Pacific Island countries," Sousa-Santos said. "Because if you're being paid in drugs, by selling those drugs, you can make more than the agreed upon amount." It resulted in drug markets in Pacific nations growing "exponentially," he said. "Fiji has really shown us just how quickly the situation can evolve and the impact that it can have on society, communities, and even in [the] infiltration of law enforcement and the corruption of agencies that are tasked to deal with these issues." In May, local police seized nearly 5kg of methamphetamine at Nadi airport. The group of men charged with allegedly attempting to smuggle the drugs into the country included several police and border officers. "That involved two members of the Fijian Counter-narcotics Bureau and the head of Customs intelligence," Sousa-Santos said. The methamphetamine parcel came through the east coast of Africa, he said, and had a connection to Nigeria. "What it shows is that these smaller criminal entities within the Pacific themselves have started to reach out and create their own lines of trafficking to feed the local markets. "And that is a whole new dimension which is very troubling for the Pacific." Sousa-Santos added that while the local methamphetamine markets in places like Fiji were too small to appeal to international drug cartels, they were being maintained by smaller Pacific criminal entities that had established themselves in the region. "[Pacific criminal entities] realise that the markets are large enough for them to be profitable enough, and they're reaching out to new players, small players to import methamphetamines into Pacific Island countries." Deportees from the US, Australia and New Zealand were part of that dynamic. Sousa-Santos said while it was just a small number of deportees involved in criminal activity, the circumstances of the methamphetamine and drug trade across the region had resulted in a "perfect storm". "A small number of these criminal deportees [have] not been able to reintegrate back into society, especially ones with criminal backgrounds that are not able to understand the culture, the languages, [and had] no opportunities of work. "[They have] started to reach back to the criminal counterparts from the countries which they were deported. These deportees brought a new set of tactics ... which Pacific law enforcement was not used to dealing with, and they added aspects and an evolution to drug smuggling activities and criminal enterprise in the region which previously didn't exist." Any solutions to the ongoing crisis had to be holistic, Sousa-Santos said. This included strengthening the regional security architecture and working with different authorities and levels of law enforcement locally and across the region. For example, having Interpol engaged was just as important as the involvement of traditional community leaders at the grassroots level, he said. "When you look at the issue of drug usage and criminality in Pacific Island countries and Pacific Island states themselves, the approach has to be different. It has to be culturally appropriate. It has to be context specific." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
13 hours ago
- RNZ News
NZ's status as a 'cash chow' of Pacific meth market driving drug crises in region
About 1.1 tonnes of methamphetamine was found concealed in containers in the Fijian town of Nadi last year. Photo: Supplied/ Fiji Police A transnational crime expert says New Zealand and Australia's status as the "cash cows" of the Pacific methamphetamine market is a driving factor in the drug crisis facing the region. Jose Sousa-Santos, associate professor of practice at the University of Canterbury's Pacific Regional Security hub, told Pacific Waves the "red flags" were evident at least five years ago. Fiji, Tonga, Sāmoa and Papua New Guinea are grappling with surging methamphetamine use in their communities. Alongside that are the health and socio-economic problems associated with the drug. Fiji has declared an HIV outbreak , which has been linked to needle sharing among drug users as well as sexual transmission of the virus. Between 2023 and 2024, HIV cases increased 281 percent in the country to 1583 new cases. Sousa-Santos said countries like Fiji and Tonga were being used as transport hubs for the flow of methamphetamine and cocaine from North and South America, and southeast Asia, to Australia and New Zealand. Precursors of the drugs were also transported away from New Zealand and Australia through the same route. Previously, that drug smuggling occurred with little impact on the smaller Pacific nations. "Chinese triads, cartels would always move the drugs through [and] their method was always to pay facilitators - either commercial elites ... people connected to the government, or in other high-levels of Pacific society ... in money." The set up resulted in "no real overflow" into Pacific communities, Sousa-Santos said. About five years ago, that changed with facilitators being offered drugs like methamphetamine as payment instead of cash. "This is where we started to see the development and the growth of a local market, not just in Fiji, but in Tonga and other Pacific Island countries," Sousa-Santos said. "Because if you're being paid in drugs, by selling those drugs, you can make more than the agreed upon amount." It resulted in drug markets in Pacific nations growing "exponentially," he said. "Fiji has really shown us just how quickly the situation can evolve and the impact that it can have on society, communities, and even in [the] infiltration of law enforcement and the corruption of agencies that are tasked to deal with these issues." In May, local police seized nearly 5kg of methamphetamine at Nadi airport. The group of men charged with allegedly attempting to smuggle the drugs into the country included several police and border officers. "That involved two members of the Fijian Counter-narcotics Bureau and the head of Customs intelligence," Sousa-Santos said. The methamphetamine parcel came through the east coast of Africa, he said, and had a connection to Nigeria. "What it shows is that these smaller criminal entities within the Pacific themselves have started to reach out and create their own lines of trafficking to feed the local markets. "And that is a whole new dimension which is very troubling for the Pacific." Sousa-Santos added that while the local methamphetamine markets in places like Fiji were too small to appeal to international drug cartels, they were being maintained by smaller Pacific criminal entities that had established themselves in the region. "[Pacific criminal entities] realise that the markets are large enough for them to be profitable enough, and they're reaching out to new players, small players to import methamphetamines into Pacific Island countries." Deportees from the US, Australia and New Zealand were part of that dynamic. Sousa-Santos said while it was just a small number of deportees involved in criminal activity, the circumstances of the methamphetamine and drug trade across the region had resulted in a "perfect storm". "A small number of these criminal deportees [have] not been able to reintegrate back into society, especially ones with criminal backgrounds that are not able to understand the culture, the languages, [and had] no opportunities of work. "[They have] started to reach back to the criminal counterparts from the countries which they were deported. These deportees brought a new set of tactics ... which Pacific law enforcement was not used to dealing with, and they added aspects and an evolution to drug smuggling activities and criminal enterprise in the region which previously didn't exist." Any solutions to the ongoing crisis had to be holistic, Sousa-Santos said. This included strengthening the regional security architecture and working with different authorities and levels of law enforcement locally and across the region. For example, having Interpol engaged was just as important as the involvement of traditional community leaders at the grassroots level, he said. "When you look at the issue of drug usage and criminality in Pacific Island countries and Pacific Island states themselves, the approach has to be different. It has to be culturally appropriate. It has to be context specific." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
CBC
3 days ago
- Health
- CBC
Downward trend in drug overdoses in Ottawa, but reasons unclear
Ottawa's seeing a downward trend in both suspected fatal drug overdoses and related hospital visits since they peaked in 2023. Despite the positive indications, those on the front line of Ottawa's drug crisis aren't celebrating yet.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bondi suggests she has no plans to step down, dodges Epstein questions
Attorney General Pam Bondi sidestepped questions and calls for her to resign over the Justice Department's (DOJ) handling of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein's files on Tuesday, instead focusing on the Trump administration's goals to fight the fentanyl drug crisis. 'I'm going to be here for as long as the president wants me here,' Bondi told reporters during an event Tuesday evening. 'And I believe he's made that crystal clear.' One reporter asked the attorney general to explain discrepancies between the joint DOJ-FBI memo issued last week — which concluded Epstein died by suicide and that a client list did not exist — and comments she made in February suggesting such a list was on her desk waiting for review. Bondi brushed off the question, seeking to turn the conversation back to the war on drugs. 'This today is about fentanyl overdoses throughout our country and people who have lost loved ones to fentanyl,' she said. 'That's the message that we're here to send today. I'm not going to talk about Epstein.' In recent days some Republicans and Democrats alike have pressured the Trump administration to release the Epstein files in full or offer more of an explanation. Some conservative commentators have gone as far as to ask Bondi to resign over the controversy. The White House and Trump have stuck behind Bondi amid the turmoil, seeking to clarify her previous comments. 'She was saying the entirety of all of the paperwork, all of the paper in relation to Jeffrey Epstein's crimes,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier this week. 'That's what the attorney general was referring to, and I'll let her speak for that.' Amid pushback over word choice, Trump too has vehemently defended his attorney general's work ethic — especially as fissures emerge among his 'Make America Great Again' base over the controversy. 'They're all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB!' Trump wrote over the weekend. 'We're on one Team, MAGA, and I don't like what's happening.' On Tuesday, the president said Bondi should release 'whatever she thinks is credible.' He also pressed his supporters to move on, calling the Epstein drama 'boring.' 'I don't understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody. It's pretty boring stuff. It's sordid, but it's boring,' Trump told reporters. 'And I don't understand why it keeps going. I think really only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going.' Bondi lauded the president for his support throughout public criticism and reaffirmed her commitment to the administration. 'We're going to fight to keep America safe again and we're fighting together as a team,' she said Tuesday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
16-07-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Upended by Meth, Some Communities Are Paying Users to Quit
Jamie Mains showed up for her checkup so high that there was no point in pretending otherwise. At least she wasn't shooting fentanyl again; medication was suppressing those cravings. Now it was methamphetamine that manacled her, keeping her from eating, sleeping, thinking straight. Still, she could not stop injecting. 'Give me something that's going to help me with this,' she begged her doctor. 'There is nothing,' the doctor replied. Overcoming meth addiction has become one of the biggest challenges of the national drug crisis. Fentanyl deaths have been dropping, in part because of medications that can reverse overdoses and curb the urge to use opioids. But no such prescriptions exist for meth, which works differently on the brain. In recent years, meth, a highly addictive stimulant, has been spreading aggressively across the country, rattling communities and increasingly involved in overdoses. Lacking a medical treatment, a growing number of clinics are trying a startlingly different strategy: To induce patients to stop using meth, they pay them. The approach has been around for decades, but most clinics were uneasy about adopting it because of its bluntly transactional nature. Patients typically come in twice a week for a urine drug screen. If they test negative, they are immediately handed a small reward: a modest store voucher, a prize or debit card cash. The longer they abstain from use, the greater the rewards, with a typical cumulative value of nearly $600. The programs, which usually last three to six months, operate on the principle of positive reinforcement, with incentives intended to encourage repetition of desired behavior — somewhat like a parent who permits a child to stay up late as a reward for good grades. Research shows that the approach, known in addiction treatment as 'contingency management,' or CM, produces better outcomes for stimulant addiction than counseling or cognitive behavioral therapy. Follow-up studies of patients a year after they successfully completed programs show that about half remained stimulant-free. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
