An interesting article popped up in the local Queenstown weekly paper this week. Titled “Drug Warnings“, I expected to read about people getting busted for selling drugs in the town and I wasn’t disappointed.
Apparently a major bust has gone down which targeted bad guys from Whangarei and Queenstown, a local man had been locked up and will appear on firearms charges in relation to it.
In excess of two kilograms of methamphetamine was seized along with quantities of LSD, Heroin, Cocaine and MDMA. A large amount of cannabis was also located along with several hundred thousand dollars in cash and eight firearms. In Queenstown, Police seized more than 2400 MDMA (Ecstacy) pills, with a street value of about $125,000, LSD tabs, cannabis and more than $5000 in cash during last weeks operation.
The article goes on to discuss the fact that the Queenstown sewer system has recently been the subject of analysis and the findings have been somewhat shocking.
Tests taken during last year’s peak season of Nov ’19 to Jan ’20, found that the Southern District had the highest proportion of MDMA use per person in New Zealand, with an estimated 655mg of the drug being consumed each week.
What I found unusual though was the article immediately after the one warning us of the creeping dangers of the drug problem in the town. Under the heading of ‘Weekend Users’ Warning’ we suddenly get an instruction manual on how to take illegal drugs safely!
So potentially taking a third of the pill and waiting for an hour to see if it has an affect … because if it is MDMA they have just taken a smaller dose, but if it is something else then they haven’t inadvertently taken three doses all in one.
Scene.co.nz
Considering that the very first piece of legislation that the Labour Party enacted upon their re-election to government was to facilitate illicit drug testing at concerts, I guess that this is perhaps the sort of thing we may have to come to expect.
Weirdly, after an article that goes to lengths to advise people of all the bad things that can happen when you take drugs, and the nasty sorts of things that those drugs are being cut with, we get one telling us that it’s fine really, take what you want, just try and do it better! We’ve gone from one of ‘Hey Kids, Don’t Take Drugs’, to ‘Hey Kid’s, Don’t Worry About the Potential Jail Time and Negative Health Effects, Just Try to be Safe’.
Maybe I’m just old but I don’t get it. Perhaps we are never going to win that war against drugs, but should we be actually encouraging people to take them?
Please feel free to enlighten us as to your own thoughts on this matter via the comments section below, but in the mean time, Just Say No.
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