You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald from News talks'b.

You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald from News talks'b.

I've never used meth, as if I tell you if I had that, I've never used meth, and I hope I never do. I say hope because I reckon that's as certain as you can be about a drug like that, because look, none of us know what's going to happen in the future and whether we might just find ourselves in a position where we might just feel a bit differently about smoking a bit of it or using a bit of it. I don't know how many times I've read stories about people saying they had no idea that they would end up using meth. They had no idea that one day they would end up a meth addict. And there's no shortage of users. With this news out to day that use of the drug in New Zealand has increased by ninety six percent in the past two years, so it's nearly doubled, and that just proves to me that we are losing the battle against this drug and if we don't do things differently, we will lose the war as well, which is why I agree with the Labor Party, which are saying today that's all well and good for the Prime Minister to be calling on as police and Justice ministers to look into the situation. But quite rightly, Chris Hipkins are saying that the Prime Minister needs to bring the Health Minister into the conversation as well, because whether we like it or not, however we feel about drugs of any sort, if we only keep on treating meth users as criminals, then what are we going to achieve. I'll tell you what, absolutely nothing, and we'll have more and more people on the path to meth misery. So these stats about how much meth has been used in New Zealand, they're quite something, a ninety six percent increase over two years. It's been described as unprecedented, it's the only way to describe it. And it's been reported that the social harm caused by meth is one point five billion dollars a year. And what is the Prime Minister say, Well, the Prime Minister says he is quote quite concerned. In fact, he's so concerned that he's getting his police minister and his Justice minister to quote look into it. Isn't it brilliant that when you're in opposition you talk about these numbers and describe it as a crisis and not enough's being done and blah blah blah, blah blah. When you're in government, though, you're quite concerned and you get a couple of people to look into it. And as Labor and others are saying and have been saying for quite some time, now, this is a health thing. It's a health thing as much as a crime thing. But here's where I struggle. All Right, you see, you're listening to someone who voted no and the cannabis referendum a few years back, and I did that because of the information void that there seems to be about the mental health consequences of smoking weed. So I said no to weed. But somehow, this is what I'm struggling with. Somehow I seem to be a bit more liberal when it comes to meth. Can't explain why, because if there was another cannabis referendum to day, I'd probably about the same way. But when it comes to meth and how much of it has been picked up on the waste water testing that's done these days, you can't just treat it as a crime thing. Now. Look, I'm not saying legalize it or decriminalize it. And yes, the bastards who trade the stuff, they are, oh, the scumbags, lowes to the low whatever you want to call them, Which is where the Prime Minister and the government seems to be focused, with Christoph Luxen saying yesterday quote it's a reason why we've gone so hard on gangs and an organ on organized crime which is driving a lot of the drug trade. This is the this is the clincher. But I've actually asked Minister Goldsmith and Mitchell too to say what else we can be doing. Well, I'm sorry, Prime Minister, don't stop at those two. You should also be getting Health Minister Sime and Brown onto it, getting Mental Health Minister, mental Health Minister Matt Doocy involved too. Because Mitchell and Goldsmith, they can thump the table as much as they like, they can do what the tough guy talk, but that won't change a bloody thing. Because Prime Minister, this huge increase in meth use has happened under your watch, and the strongest thing you can say about it is you're quite concerned. And the strongest thing you can do is get your two guys in charge of catching people and locking them up to look into it, don't now look. Don't get me wrong, as I say, the low lives who peddle this stuff, they need targeting. But most people when they start using meth, from what I've read and what it would have heard with most meth users, there's a reason behind it. Sure, some will give it a go for the thrill of the thrill of it, but I reckon most people are using it to block stuff out. And unless we do something truly meaningful, unless we do something that gets to the nub of what's going on with these people, treating them as criminals won't fix it. And by not treating meth as a health issue just as much as a crime issue, but not treating it particularly as a health issue, that just leaves the problem in the lapse of parents and brothers and sisters and friends who not only have to deal with watching someone they love get lost in addiction, if not worse, but it also leaves these people on their own desperately finding help to save the person they love.

I've never used meth, as if I tell you if I had that, I've never used meth, and I hope I never do. I say hope because I reckon that's as certain as you can be about a drug like that, because look, none of us know what's going to happen in the future and whether we might just find ourselves in a position where we might just feel a bit differently about smoking a bit of it or using a bit of it. I don't know how many times I've read stories about people saying they had no idea that they would end up using meth. They had no idea that one day they would end up a meth addict. And there's no shortage of users. With this news out to day that use of the drug in New Zealand has increased by ninety six percent in the past two years, so it's nearly doubled, and that just proves to me that we are losing the battle against this drug and if we don't do things differently, we will lose the war as well, which is why I agree with the Labor Party, which are saying today that's all well and good for the Prime Minister to be calling on as police and Justice ministers to look into the situation. But quite rightly, Chris Hipkins are saying that the Prime Minister needs to bring the Health Minister into the conversation as well, because whether we like it or not, however we feel about drugs of any sort, if we only keep on treating meth users as criminals, then what are we going to achieve. I'll tell you what, absolutely nothing, and we'll have more and more people on the path to meth misery. So these stats about how much meth has been used in New Zealand, they're quite something, a ninety six percent increase over two years. It's been described as unprecedented, it's the only way to describe it. And it's been reported that the social harm caused by meth is one point five billion dollars a year. And what is the Prime Minister say, Well, the Prime Minister says he is quote quite concerned. In fact, he's so concerned that he's getting his police minister and his Justice minister to quote look into it. Isn't it brilliant that when you're in opposition you talk about these numbers and describe it as a crisis and not enough's being done and blah blah blah, blah blah. When you're in government, though, you're quite concerned and you get a couple of people to look into it. And as Labor and others are saying and have been saying for quite some time, now, this is a health thing. It's a health thing as much as a crime thing. But here's where I struggle. All Right, you see, you're listening to someone who voted no and the cannabis referendum a few years back, and I did that because of the information void that there seems to be about the mental health consequences of smoking weed. So I said no to weed. But somehow, this is what I'm struggling with. Somehow I seem to be a bit more liberal when it comes to meth. Can't explain why, because if there was another cannabis referendum to day, I'd probably about the same way. But when it comes to meth and how much of it has been picked up on the waste water testing that's done these days, you can't just treat it as a crime thing. Now. Look, I'm not saying legalize it or decriminalize it. And yes, the bastards who trade the stuff, they are, oh, the scumbags, lowes to the low whatever you want to call them, Which is where the Prime Minister and the government seems to be focused, with Christoph Luxen saying yesterday quote it's a reason why we've gone so hard on gangs and an organ on organized crime which is driving a lot of the drug trade. This is the this is the clincher. But I've actually asked Minister Goldsmith and Mitchell too to say what else we can be doing. Well, I'm sorry, Prime Minister, don't stop at those two. You should also be getting Health Minister Sime and Brown onto it, getting Mental Health Minister, mental Health Minister Matt Doocy involved too. Because Mitchell and Goldsmith, they can thump the table as much as they like, they can do what the tough guy talk, but that won't change a bloody thing. Because Prime Minister, this huge increase in meth use has happened under your watch, and the strongest thing you can say about it is you're quite concerned. And the strongest thing you can do is get your two guys in charge of catching people and locking them up to look into it, don't now look. Don't get me wrong, as I say, the low lives who peddle this stuff, they need targeting. But most people when they start using meth, from what I've read and what it would have heard with most meth users, there's a reason behind it. Sure, some will give it a go for the thrill of the thrill of it, but I reckon most people are using it to block stuff out. And unless we do something truly meaningful, unless we do something that gets to the nub of what's going on with these people, treating them as criminals won't fix it. And by not treating meth as a health issue just as much as a crime issue, but not treating it particularly as a health issue, that just leaves the problem in the lapse of parents and brothers and sisters and friends who not only have to deal with watching someone they love get lost in addiction, if not worse, but it also leaves these people on their own desperately finding help to save the person they love.

For more from Caterbory Mornings with John McDonald. Listen live to news talks It'd be christ Church from nine am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.

For more from Caterbory Mornings with John McDonald. Listen live to news talks It'd be christ Church from nine am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.