If the airport seizures and wastewater tests are a measure to go by, then there are a lot of Kiwis are doing drugs – and they are doing a lot of drugs.
According to a Cabinet paper, obtained by Newstalk ZB under the Official Information Act, more drugs were seized at Auckland Airport in the first four months of last year than across all airports in the country in the entirety of 2024.
The volume of drugs being intercepted at the border has also more than quadrupled between 2018 and 2024, from 1.5 tonnes to 6.5 tonnes.
Our collective efforts to curb the flow appear not to be working and Customs Minister Casey Costello said there had been a particular increase in methamphetamine smuggling.
Meth is an absolute scourge on society. But the drug runners, gangs and cartels which deal in this product will continue to pump more and more meth into New Zealand, because the country has one of the highest retail prices in the Western world.
Put simply, Aotearoa is good business for the criminal meth market.
But authorities have also noticed an increase in other drugs too.
Costello said in the first nine weeks of this year, more than 12 tonnes of cocaine was intercepted in the Pacific.
The drugs are becoming cheaper to produce and so the volume coming to our shores has also increased.
“This idea that New Zealand used to be far away and that we are somewhat isolated – that’s not the case anymore,” Costello said.
However, the drugs wouldn’t be coming in such vast quantities if there wasn’t a market to sell it to.
Officials estimate illicit drug harm carries an estimated social cost of $36.7 million each week – or $1.9 billion each year.
It ruins people’s lives, careers, families, relationships and communities.
For a small nation like New Zealand, we are, as Costello says, fighting “a big enemy”.
“I do really applaud the agencies. We’re not winning, but I wouldn’t say we’re losing.”
The Herald has for decades reported on the rise of drug use, particularly meth, in this country and the efforts to combat it.
Traditionally, illicit drugs could trace its origins to Asia but nearly a decade ago, that trade route shifted to South and Central America.
“There isn’t one part of the border we need to strengthen,” Costello said.
“It’s coming through small packages and parcels. It’s coming through container freight. It’s coming through couriers that traffic it through the airports. It’s coming through unaccompanied baggage – every way in which they can circulate it.”
In a fiscal environment where budgets are tight, pouring more taxpayer money towards a fight which may never be won is a difficult decision for any government to make.
Officials have noted that “our current response is fragmented” and reiterated the importance of co-ordination across agencies.
The Government has agreed on a set of actions to address meth-specific harm, which specifically calls for Customs, the Defence Force and the Government Communications Security Bureau to undertake maritime operations to disrupt organised crime across the Pacific.
It is a constant game of cat and mouse. Every move our authorities make, the cartels will try to counter it.
But if we don’t make any moves then the problem and harm will only get worse.