High Alert for drugs
The country's drug early warning system is working and has likely saved numerous lives in recent years.
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Tuesday, April 12, by Justin Giovannetti. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: New military deployment to help Ukraine; Dunedin’s occupation ends; the Reserve Bank’s tough decision; but first, the quiet success of High Alert.
From wastewater tests to warnings from ER doctors, High Alert is watching the country’s illegal drug supply. (Image: RNZ/123RF)
The country’s early warning system for dangerous drugs is working.
Three people were in a bad state outside Auckland’s SkyCity casino in November 2020. They took what they thought was MDMA earlier in the evening and it was hitting them hard. An ambulance was called and one of them told police they’d taken MDMA. That’s when New Zealand’s early warning system for dangerous drugs became involved. You might not know much about High Alert, but the system has helped save the lives of a number of New Zealanders in recent years. The Auckland incident is an example of how it works best.
A situation where deaths were likely avoided.
Detective inspector Blair Macdonald is the manager of the national drug intelligence bureau. He told The Bulletin what High Alert did next. “Naturally, we were quite concerned because MDMA doesn’t have a history of causing people to be hospitalised in that way. We were straight onto that,” he said.
One of the three gave the group a sample of the drug they’d taken. It was sent to the ESR laboratory for testing. It wasn’t MDMA, but the chemical methylenedianiline – an industrial chemical used to produce polymers, which doesn’t give you a high. It is, however, toxic and can cause a number of very unpleasant symptoms. High Alert put out an immediate alert on a Friday night that a yellow powder going around Auckland wasn’t MDMA. The next day, there was an unexpected turnout of people with yellow powder at a drug checking clinic run by the group KnowYourStuff.
A more recent case of catastrophe averted in the capital.
There was a similar event a few weeks ago in Wellington. The Dominion Post has reported on that incident, where both sellers and users came forward with what they thought were oxycodone tablets. ESR found the pills to contain N-pyrrolidino etonitazene, an extremely potent opioid. The equivalent of a few grains of salt is likely a lethal dose. An alert went out and a number of sellers and users said they flushed the pills away. What could have led to deaths instead showed a number of groups working together. KnowYourStuff raised the alarm, High Alert got the drugs tested and put out a warning.
So what is High Alert?
Known publicly as High Alert, Drug Information and Alerts Aotearoa New Zealand was created after the country’s deadly synthetic cannabinoid crisis of 2018. RNZ wrote a chilling feature at the time about a Napier suburb that was “swallowed up” by the drug crisis. The government created High Alert to make sure that wouldn’t happen again. The group brings together police, DHBs, ambulance, customs, social agencies, emergency room doctors and drug checking organisations. They share information and hopefully create a national picture before a dangerous drug can take root.
High Alert is aided by extensive national wastewater testing. One week a month, the wastewater from 75% of New Zealanders is tested for meth, MDMA, cocaine, fentanyl, opioids, drug chemicals and cannabis (the last one only in Whangārei and Auckland). Within two months, High Alert is also expecting to add ketamine and eutylone to the wastewater testing system, reflecting changing drug use patterns in Aotearoa. “It allows us to understand what’s going on with consumption,” said Macdonald of the testing.
The benefits of keeping tabs on drug use.
With an opioid epidemic raging overseas, killing tens of thousands annually across North America, High Alert’s job isn’t to stop drug use, but to blunt the deaths that can happen. The NZ Herald has reported on the changing drug picture in New Zealand. With national oversight and a level of trust between health workers, testing groups and police – the group is barred from sharing any information with police officers for the purpose of enforcement or prosecution – High Alert can track drug use in real time.
“We’ve found that the same drug has caused harm or death from Palmerston North, to Hāwera in Taranaki and down to Christchurch. Until the drug early warning system came into existence, no one was able to connect those dots. Now, we’re actually able to see the harm occurring and we’re often able to get blood samples from the victims and confirm that these are the same drugs. We can start linking those harm events and focusing the alerts in those areas,” said Macdonald.
You can subscribe to High Alert for updates and alerts.
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Largest Defence Force deployment to Europe in 26 years.
New Zealand’s contribution to Ukraine’s war against Russia is expanding significantly, with the Defence Force sending a C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft and nearly 60 more personnel. The Spinoff’s live updates also highlighted a new $13 million contribution from New Zealand to Ukraine’s fight. More than half that package will go towards buying weapons and ammunition for Ukraine’s military.
While the government has shown no interest in expelling Russia’s ambassador, parliament is considering its options. RNZ reports that the foreign affairs select committee might order Georgii Zuev to appear for questioning. He’s rejected two invitations from the committee so far to appear.
Dunedin protesters leave octagon after two month occupation.
What started in support of the occupation outside parliament and its anti-mandate and anti-vaccine message ended up lasting twice as long. Facing an order to leave Dunedin’s octagon by noon yesterday, the last tent came down hours earlier. Dunedin’s mayor told the Otago Daily Times he was happy the protest ended peacefully. It’s likely the reserve’s grass will now need some fixing. The repair bill at parliament has topped $1 million so far. The Dominion Post reports of concern in the capital as some of parliament’s occupiers have set up elsewhere. There have been estimates of 100 people in a camp near Shelly Bay.
500 Covid deaths recorded, possible move to orange this week.
It’s a grim milestone for New Zealand. A month ago the country had recorded fewer than 100 deaths attributed to the Covid pandemic. Stuff looks at what we know about the people who have died. A group of cabinet ministers will meet tomorrow morning to decide whether the country, or some part of it, should move down to the orange traffic light. RNZ reports on a request from Michael Baker that masks should remain compulsory under orange in schools. As Baker points out, the evidence isn’t clear yet on how infections impact children. The decision will be announced tomorrow at 1pm.
The Reserve Bank faces a tough decision this week.
The country’s official cash rate needs to go up, increasing the cost of borrowing. The dilemma is by how much. With inflation running far too hot, the Reserve Bank’s challenge is to slow the economy, without crushing it. Jenée Tibshraeny reports for Interest that economists are split over how large the increase should be. Raise the rate too quickly now and housing might crash, raise it too slowly and housing might crash even more later. Choose wisely.
The high cost of building in Aotearoa is leaving us with less.
Oliver Lewis writes for BusinessDesk that New Zealand needs to better control the ballooning costs of building infrastructure. Auckland’s proposed light rail is a good example of costs going off the rails. For an estimated $14.6 billion, the government expects to build 24 km of track. Other countries could build a network of up to 200 km for the same price, he reports. That’s a problem with Aotearoa now facing a massive infrastructure deficit that could take years to fix — one of the possible solutions is to create a long-term pipeline of projects, so the problem could present a solution if handled correctly.
Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz
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Review of Black Ferns finds challenging culture for players.
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