CALL TO BAN METHAMPHETAMINE PIPES

A former police officer turned anti-drug campaigner is calling for a
ban on drug pipes as methamphetamine use reaches epidemic proportions
in Christchurch.

Mike Sabin took his campaign against meth, or "P", to Christchurch's
Cashmere High School yesterday, where he said four months of meth use
caused as much damage as 30 years of alcohol abuse.

The law did not prevent the sale of glass meth pipes designed solely
for smoking the drugs.

"Why should we have things around that their only purpose is for
smoking drugs?" he said.

Sabin told the 200 students to be wary of the growing trend of spiking
drinks and cannabis with methamphetamine in a bid to get soft drug
users hooked.

Last year, Christchurch experienced a growth in methamphetamine
problems beyond what was seen anywhere else in the country.

"It's growing beyond an epidemic," Sabin said.

Canterbury police recorded a 24 per cent surge in reported drug and
anti-social crime between 2006-07. The figure had fallen in eight of
the previous nine years.

Christchurch city was the worst hit in the Canterbury region for the
drug crime spike, up 52.7% in 2006-07 after a 4.1% drop the year before.

Christchurch police uncovered 31 labs in 2007, up from 12 in
2006.

Sabin said New Zealand's meth problem had come as far in 10 years as
America's had in 30 years. He had quit the police to try to make a
constructive difference to the problem.

"I would still be there if I thought we could arrest our way out of
the problem," he said.

Detective Senior Sergeant Brian Archer, of the police drug squad, said
the highly addictive nature of the drug made it particularly damaging.

"It's an expensive habit to have and the majority of people do not
have the ability to fund that habit without committing crime."

Archer agreed the legal sale of pipes used almost exclusively for
drugs was "a bit of a loophole in the legislation".

"It is an interesting quandary that these things are allowed to be
sold legally.

"A high percentage of the purchases are for illegal purposes," he
said.

Archer said there were plenty of rumours about methamphetamine being
laced through drinks and softer drugs like cannabis.

"How much in practice that actually occurs would be pretty hard to put
down, but definitely there are those rumours about."

Archer said a team of 13 police in the drug squad had made
methamphetamine a priority problem.

"Why Christchurch seems to be a little bit higher than everywhere else
currently is hard to know but we do appear to be bucking the trend."