More drug addicts than ever — police

Press, 12 February 1986, Page 14

More drug addicts than ever — police

PA Auckland The police believe there are more drug addicts than ever in New Zealand — and that there is a danger of losing the fight against illicit drugtaking. “We are at a time of crisis,” the head of Auckland’s drug squad, Detective Inspector lan Hastings, has said. Narcotics were becoming increasingly available — “adolescents are facing some deadly temptations out there,” he told a seminar organised by the Foundation for Alcohol and Drug Education.

New Zealanders were complacent about drugaddiction problems faced by other countries because until now New Zealand was largely isolated from supplies. But things were changing, making New Zealand as vulnerable as other countries, Mr Hastings said.

Heroin was available in greater quantities and at lower prices. “Ten years ago most of the heroin was imported from South-East Asia. Now 90 per cent is bought in Australia, particularly Sydney,” he said. “The ease and frequency of travel between Australia and New Zealand makes the problem of intercepting importations so much more difficult.”

Mr Hastings said that a regular supply of hard narcotits had a dramatic impact. “With homebake, there has been a major increase in the number of addicts. “I believe our present addict population is worse than at the height of the ‘Mr Asia’ ring in 1977, when large quantities of heroin were available.”

In Sydney, the police estimated 90 per cent of armed hold-ups were drug-related. An average of 10 such hold-ups occurred in Sydney every day.

“An increase in availability of hard drugs means an increase in the number of addicts, and that means an increase in crime,” Mr Hastings said. “There is only one way an addict can support his habit, and that is by resorting to crime — prostitution, armed hold-ups, burglaries, theft, and drug-dealing." Ingredients for violence already existed, he said. Many cannabis growers and dealers were arming themselves to avoid crop and deal rip-offs. Mr Hastings is a trustee of the foundation, which was formed recently as a resource from which parents and schools could draw in educating young people about the dangers of smoking, or taking drugs.