TAKING OUT DRUG PROBLEMS

A drug called P: it is causing more devastation, crime, illness and
heartbreak than almost anything else on the go in New Zealand.

Former Wellington drug squad man Brendon Spencer spent the best part
of the past decade untangling drug-related crimes.

But with the incursion of P, stronger than homebake, more addictive,
more expensive but as easily produced in the backyard lab, a crime
wave looks at times unstoppable.

Mr Spencer, son of Invercargill Coffee Club president Daphne Spencer,
left the police two years ago but retains a commitment to drug
eradication from school Dare programmes to awareness talks such as the
one he gave to the club on Wednesday.

He worked in Porirua, a city area with a population similar to that of
Invercargill - just under 50,000 - and a growing burglary problem.

"Burglaries are up 75 percent there as in many parts of New Zealand
just because people with an addiction to a drug like P need so much
money to feed it," he said.

The money is found through burglary, prostitution and a host of
gang-related vices carried out in company director style.

Many gangs of any ethnic componency were well organised with a
president and office bearers and directors of portfolios from vehicles
to drug distribution.

Gang members might pay $65 a week to belong to a gang but belonging
gave status, an income, a feeling of belonging, a guaranteed future,
promised work even for young people.

Porirua had 112 patched gang members and, with the family and friends
links of these, probably 1000 people involved in gang activity.

It was the sheer scale of offending that shocked listeners.

People asking what financed such endeavours were told of the proceeds
of burglaries, everything from frozen dog rolls to jewellery and motor
vehicles finding a buyer.

Once hooked on something such as P, people had to make huge efforts to
sustain the habit.

In cost it knocked addictions to alcohol and other drugs into a cocked
hat.

Feeding the habit could cost lives at both ends - the user eventually
losing his own health and often his life as a result of this abuse.

"Stimulants like a drug called P work like this: the more you have,
the higher you go and the lower you then get. Crack, a synthetic
cocaine, has had the same effect in other countries," Mr Spencer said.

There were perks in being a member of the drug squad, like going to
work unshaven, in jeans and leather jacket.

But for undercover cops whose work involved assuming another identity,
it could be hard graft, many leaving the police at the end of a
three-year term.

Today conditions were better, he said.

Staff working under that sort of pressure had counselling and there
was concern for their future.

Answering a raft of questions, Mr Spencer said the widespread use of
cannabis had almost become accepted at some levels of society.

"Our climate and its cultivation in places in Northland making it a
cash crop."

But a chemically derived drug that could be made with a few
ingredients and utensils in a backyard garage-lab had the potential to
let gangs grow and thrive at huge cost to ordinary New Zealanders, he
said.