Mass Media III
Gregory, Angela. 2003. Police hit road to show public the horrors of P. New Zealand Herald, 12 July 2003.
Reports on a police presentation to a hui, raising awareness of the effects of methamphetamine.
Policemen Andre Morris and John Cassidy, and Dr Pita Sharples discuss their own experiences - children who claim to be prostituting themselves to pay for the drug, users who have experienced negative emotional effects. The police describe P as "pure" methamphetamine of any type, not just smokeable methamphetamine. They report the cost of the drug, how to take it, and the dangers caused by the toxic by-products of the methamphetamine labs. Claims that the drug has led to a rise in the level and intensity of violent crime are credible, as they come from front-line police officers.
There is a lurid claim that P can be injected in the eyeballs or "even the penis", though surely only the most desperate addicts do either. There is also the suggestion that methamphetamine (in the form of "ya ba" tablets imported from Thailand) is being made in multiple colours and fruit flavours to appeal to children, a common claim but generally unsubstantiated.
Henderson, Ross. 2002. Tanczos denies drug promotion. The Dominion Post, 19 August 2002, 2.
Reports criticism of Green MP Nandor Tanczos. Tanczos owned an Auckland store that sells testing kits that determine whether a pill contains ecstasy, or speed, or some other substance. Tanczos claimed that helping people to know what they are taking is important to help reduce health risks. Gary Knowles, of Police National Drug Intelligence, claimed that the kits encouraged illicit drug use, and that they were ineffective and could lead to a false sense of security because the only accurate test for the presence of a drug was under laboratory conditions. A Green MP likened the testing kits to encouraging people to use condoms: "you're not promoting sex - you're facing reality".
Bali Haque, president of the Secondary Principals Association of New Zealand, said selling the kits sent mixed messages to young people: "[having] these kits is an invitation by implication", and that while selling them might be seen as being realistic, it "was a question of drawing lines".
Herrick, Stefan. 2001. Uppers and downs. The Evening Post, 3 February 2001, 30.
An early report on the effects, legality and health risks of "herbal highs". A regular user says that they keep her awake and give her a mild buzz, not as good as "the real thing" [illegal drugs, such as ecstasy or speed] but easier on the body.
Pippa MacKay of the New Zealand Medical Association says she thinks the pills will be safe in the right dose, but the problem is when "kids take them with alcohol, they think two's good, 10's got to be better". MacKay didn't think the pills should be banned, but that they should not be treated as dietary supplements.
Iain Hickling of Wellington party shop Cosmic Corner claims that everything sold in his shop is "manufactured by proper chemists in proper labs" and approved by the Ministry of Health. He claims that his shop discourages kids and people who just " want to get hammered" from buying the drugs.
The article contains relevant information that is still pertinent to the debate over these substances, four years later. They aren't 'dietary supplements'. While some of them do contain herbs, they shouldn't be referred to as herbal highs. They generally are safe in the recommended dose, but, as MacKay feared, children have been admitted to hospital having taken these drugs. It's also notable how quickly different brands of social tonic disappear. Of those cited in the article, only Nemesis is still available.
Hurley, Bevan. 2003. Massey expert urges more P research. The Evening Standard, 26 September 2003.
Researcher Chris Wilkins calls for more research into the effects of methamphetamine, and points out problems in the United Nations survey on drug use (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2003). The survey showed that New Zealand had one of the highest rates of usage in the world, but Wilkins says that it appears that the UN tagged New Zealand data onto the Australian data, did not use any research actually conducted in New Zealand, and obtained New Zealand data from the Australians without talking to New Zealand researchers.
Janes, Andrew. 2004. Party Pills. New Zealand Listener, 23 October 2004, 29.
Legal party pills have become "an increasingly common accessory for a night out." Users discuss what attracts them to the pills, including their legal status, and a perception that they "don't fry your brain [as with speed or ecstasy]". While BZP has been banned overseas, it remains legal here, as the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs did not consider it posed enough of a risk to be made illegal. Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton is proposing a new regulatory framework that would enable some restrictions to be placed on these drugs.
Meanwhile, the industry is taking steps to self-regulate. Matt Bowden suggests that restricting sales in the evening would be counter-productive, as that was when users wanted to buy the pills - and they might turn to methamphetamine if the pills were not available. Mark Carswell of retailers Cosmic Corner says that his staff do a good job educating users about the pills. He worries that dairies might not be as responsible. He thinks that the pills have had a positive effect on New Zealand night life.
Johnston, Martin. 2003. Alarm bells as overdoses triple. New Zealand Herald, 14 April 2003.
Reports that admissions to Auckland Hospital for drug problems have increased heavily in the last few years. " Ecstasy cases rose to 47, from 16, [and] 50 to 60 patients a year indicated they had overdosed on amphetamines."
Reports on the risk of psychosis from using methamphetamine, and on the lack of knowledge among medical professionals as to the best means of treating it.
It is worth mentioning that, given the heavy media coverage of the "methamphetamine epidemic", one patient a week presenting at the hospital's emergency room is perhaps less than might be expected.
Kay, Martin. 2003. Drug war stalls: scientists swamped. Dominion Post, 25 August 2003.
Forensic scientists are under pressure to analyse an increasing backlog of samples from suspected methamphetamine laboratories, due to a shortage of skilled scientists. Police are worried that offenders would be free to continue offending while awaiting trial.
This seems to ignore the assumption of innocence until guilt is proven.
Keen, Ryan. 2002a. Methamphetamine 'epidemic' looms. The Press, 23 December 2002.
Reports that government moves to crack down on the supply of methamphetamine come as addiction centres warn of a looming epidemic. Interestingly, one interviewee uses the word looming (in the phrase "looming problem") and another uses the word epidemic. Paul Traynor of the Alcohol Drug Association supported tougher penalties, but argued that resources were needed for public health information campaigns and to provide counselling for those with problems. National Addiction Centre director Doug Sellman said that New Zealand was at the beginning of an epidemic that Australia had already faced and that methamphetamine was the one drug that was most dangerous in itself. He pointed out the use statistics, that 30% of New Zealanders used alcohol hazardously, 25% were addicted to nicotine, and 0.4% had significant methamphetamine problems. Mr Traynor said that alcohol, cannabis and tobacco were far bigger problems - "the effects of alcohol are horrific".
The article is generally balanced, it allows its interviewees to speak at reasonable length about the subject. Probably the only alarmist thing is the use of the word 'epidemic' in the headline, when only one interviewee suggested that was the case. However, placing epidemic in inverted commas showed some distance from the claim, rather than blind acceptance.
Keen, Ryan. 2002b. Tougher 'speed' penalties rattle dance-party set. The Press, 23 December 2002.
Users react to changes to the law on methamphetamine. The changes lower the amount of methamphetamine that a person can have on them before they are able to be charged with intent to supply from 56g to 5g. A spokesman for Jim Anderton, chair of the Ministerial Action Group on Alcohol and Drugs, said the change was an attempt to close down manufacturing and supply, not imprison individual users. Vincentian Recovery Centre Trust Rod Mason suggested the new regime would lead to more people being caught and prompt them to seek help.
It is difficult to see how more people would be caught by this change, however - those caught with 5g would instead face more serious charges than mere possession.
An unnamed Christchurch woman suggested that the threshold was too low, as it could catch people in situations where "a group would pool its money and get one person to buy speed for all of them….It's not like you are buying it to sell and make a big profit or anything".
The interesting thing about this claim is that what she has described is supply, so the buyer should be charged with the more serious offence, not just with possession. She does, though, have a point that most people who sell drugs are not, contrary to the media image, pushing it on unsuspecting children or teenagers. They are supplying it to their friends, who are adults and have usually used drugs before.
Kuiper, Miranda. 2000. Fad drug keeps clinic staff busy. The Dominion, 13 October 2000, 8.
Reports on papers presented at the Police Association conference. Wellington drug counsellor Geoff Robinson stated that the Drug Rehabilitation Clinic regularly deals with at least 30 methamphetamine addicts. Robinson described various risks of use (depression and paranoia), as well as the reasons people use methamphetamine ("euphoria, increased libido and decrease in fatigue").
Criminologist Greg Newbold claims that methamphetamine is becoming more popular in New Zealand, especially with the increase in local manufacturing compared to imported sources. Newbold claims that ecstasy is less harmful than methamphetamine because it releases a "natural chemical" into the brain.
This is a slightly odd claim as methamphetamine works in the same way - it releases dopamine whereas ecstasy releases serotonin. He also says ecstasy cannot become addictive, which others (such as Susan Schenk) would dispute.
This article is interesting historically. Methamphetamine has not yet been characterised as 'P', and there isn't any sense of worry in the article. Methamphetamine addicts are 'out there', so to speak. Only a few years later, there was the sense that methamphetamine might reach into schools, or place middle New Zealand at risk of murder at the hands of addicts.
Langdon, Christine. 1999. Ecstasy harm `must be publicised'. The Dominion Post, 10 July 1999, 7.
This article reports on a Medical Journal report which claims that the "lethal effects" of ecstasy must be more widely publicised. It says that ecstasy can cause short and long-term health problems, and that "many users who developed ecstasy-related medical complications died"
This is a somewhat bizarre claim, given that a ballpark estimate for deaths from ecstasy use is one death per three million uses (Webb, 1999).
The article goes on to quote Ministry of Health research showing the increasing number of people using ecstasy, and notes that the Ministry is in the process of creating guidelines for nightclubs and dance party organisers, and for drug users "we recognise that people are going to take drugs but we are seeking ways of minimising the dangers".
It's worth noting that such guidelines were a long time coming in the UK (Collin, 1998), and New Zealand may be fortunate to have had the chance to learn from the UK experience. The number of ecstasy-related deaths in the UK might have been lower if such guidelines had been available earlier.
Larkin, Naomi, and Tony Wall. 1999. Ecstasy: how does it rate? New Zealand Herald, 5 March 1999.
Reports on the debate over re-classification of MDMA from Class B to Class A. Criminologist Greg Newbold rightly points out some inconsistencies in New Zealand's drug laws, especially classification under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975. Heroin is classified as Class A, while opium and morphine, nearly identical, are treated as Class B drugs. Newbold argues that MDMA is in no way as dangerous as heroin or other Class A drugs, and so should not be reclassified. He says the move to do so is based on scaremongering and sensationalist reporting.
Policeman Colin McMurtie disagrees, pointing out that morphine has medical uses and so should be classified as Class B. (He is correct in terms of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, though Newbold's argument is that the Act is poorly worded). Equally, McMurtie says, MDMA was classified as Class B before much was known about it, and it should really be classified as a Class A drug. This does not address the issue of why MDEA is Class C and MDA Class A, when both are very similar to MDMA. Politicians Jenny Shipley, Wyatt Creech and Helen Clark are quoted.
Little, Paul. 2003. Speed limits. New Zealand Listener, 5 April 2003, 16-21.
A methamphetamine epidemic is on the way. Health agencies and police agree that alcohol is worse, but that we can't stop the alcohol problem and we can stop P. This may just be a moral panic, and these change over time. Methamphetamine use is increasing, and it seems unlikely that enforcement will stop it. Possibly an advertising campaign would work - the drink driving campaign has made young people see drink driving as morally wrong, and perhaps the same would work for P. Police Association head Greg O'Connor says that any campaign needs to start from the viewpoint that drugs are attractive to people - as with cannabis, "kids love that shit".
Methamphetamine is at the root of a lot of crime, says O'Connor.
Health worker Ian Scott says there is no safe level of use - one dose could be fine, or could make you psychotic. It is only treated as a problem now, because it has reached the middle-classes, says O'Connor. New Zealand should adopt the Swedish model of treating users as in need of health treatment, not as criminals.
Scott says we don't know whether users recover from long-term psychosis or not. It might take years. In the meantime, a P equivalent of methadone is needed, something that can be given to addicts to wean them off the drug. Matt Bowden (later of STANZ) suggests his own product, Frenzy.
Macleod, Scott. 2002. 'Horrific effects' as speed gains popularity. New Zealand Herald, 1 April 2002.
A surge in the use of methamphetamine is one of Police Commissioner Rob Robinson's biggest concerns about the latest crime patterns. Methamphetamine is highly addictive and has "horrific effects on users, sometimes making them act violently or irrationally". The drug had "the potential to knacker a whole generation of our kids".
Non-cannabis drug crime was up by 6.9%, most of that connected to methamphetamine, and police were busting one meth lab each week.
Statistics show a different story. The percentage of the population using methamphetamine (in any one year) has never gone above 5%, and most of those users take it only a few times and do not experience the extremely negative effects on their mental health that Robinson cites. Police, of course, only see examples of problematic drug use, never the casual user who doesn't bother others.
Presents basic information about methamphetamine, taken from the US National Institute on Drug Abuse website, and from users. One compares it to "a nice cup of coffee in the morning….a wee pick-me-up". Suggests that P (meaning crystal meth) is "in demand because of its purity", but not that it is more harmful than 'regular' methamphetamine.
Mager, Darrel. 2000. Surfer had Ecstasy in his system. New Zealand Herald, 24 March 2000.
Reports the death of Northlander Jamie Langridge, the second person to die after taking ecstasy in New Zealand. The report itself is fairly straightforward, quoting the victim's mother and a police officer as saying the incident should serve as a warning to others.
However, the background information in the article is problematic. The article repeats, word-for-word, comments from a previous article by Auckland coroner Mate Frankovich (NZPA, 1999) which over-exaggerate the risks of ecstasy and claim certainty over areas which are still being debated. Frankovich's opinion is presented as facts, and he is not cited as the source.
Malcouronne, Peter. 2001. Oonst4. New Zealand Listener, 14 July 2001, 12-13.
Peter Malcouronne attends the Oonst4 dance party. " 'Every single person here is on drugs', says Mary. 'Except you' ". Describes the freedom and friendliness of the ecstasy-using dance crowd, pointing out there is "none of the macho posturing that often sours a trip to the pub". The reasons people take ecstasy, and how they act when under its influence, are described.
Manning, David. 2000. Ecstasy evolving since 1912 synthesis. The Nelson Mail, 10 June 2000, 9.
Reviews the history of ecstasy.
Discusses the Nelson ecstasy scene. Drug counsellor Dr Lee Nixon points out that little is known about the long-term effects of ecstasy, though it seems that depression and cognitive impairment are risks. However " there can be very alarmist warnings about ecstasy, which young people will dismiss as codswallop....[w]hat is required when discussing ecstasy is a balance". Abuse is a possibility, but parents should be 50 times more worried about their kids abusing alcohol.
Club owner Dave White says that alcohol is the trouble-maker at dance parties, not ecstasy. He also points out that a major risk that users might run is that, because ecstasy is illegal, it might be cut with many other substances.
White is correct that adulteration of ecstasy is a risk, although apparently it is not such a problem in New Zealand (Martin, 2001), and a club owner is possibly not an expert on such issues.
Mannion, Robert. 1996. Taking a trip on the Internet. The Dominion, 6 February 1996, 7.
Explores the availability of drug information on the internet, including such well-known names as MAPS (the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) and Nicholas Saunders, one of the most well-known writers on ecstasy (and founder of ecstasy.org) before his death.
The article takes a sober tone, correctly pointing out that the information available online is sketchy and insufficient to manufacture drugs (and citing biochemist Gordon Lees for evidence). It notes that manufacturing ecstasy requires a well-equipped laboratory, and that the precursor chemicals are hard to obtain.
The risks of ecstasy are presented accurately, and with acknowledgement that whether the drug causes long-term damage is still unknown: "[b]iologists have known the drug causes certain nerve cells to lose many of the projections, or axons, which connect to other cells in the brain. But because the cells can grow new axons the risk of long-term damage has been unclear."
Manukia, John. 2001. Flying home on the big E. Truth, 31 August 2001, 4.
Teenage access to drugs, especially ecstasy, has “never been so easy”. A dance party manager says teenagers are buying ecstasy for $15 (usual prices are $60 to $80). "Drugs, alcohol and underage clubbing have spiralled into an explosive situation in Auckland", though the only negative effects cited relate to female behaviour: "[i]t definitely effects the way girls behave. They'll just talk to anybody."
Why this is a problem is not immediately apparent, possibly because the girls are "easy targets for sex-seeking boys and men".
A nightclub bouncer says that the girls don't understand the danger they are putting themselves in, or "how rough and nasty these things can get for someone's bod [sic], man".
Why a nightclub bouncer is considered an expert on the health risks of ecstasy is not explained.
The article essentially presents a 'moral panic'. It pushes alarmist buttons - drugs, out of control girls, sexual exploitation - without any analysis or attempt to understand the situation from the actors' perspective. (Quite possibly the girls are quite happy to be taking ecstasy and going home with strange boys).
Martin, Bridget. 2002. Sale of drug ingredients to be limited. New Zealand Herald, 1 April 2002.
Tough new laws are to be implemented to limit sales of the key ingredients in methamphetamine. National Drugs Intelligence Bureau officer Richard Shurr says New Zealand is considering introducing Australian-style regulations to prevent drug 'shoppers' from buying the ingredients from pharmacists, in the form of cold and flu remedies. This approach is working well in Australia, though it is difficult to control what manufacturers can buy online.
Pharmacy Guild spokesman David Jones discussed the issue from the pharmacists' point of view, noting the huge range of products that contained substances that could be turned into speed, the pressure that pharmacists faced to sell them, and the number of burglaries and raids by those seeking these drugs.