September 22, 2019
Māori breaking addiction to failed solutions
Enough is enough.
That was the call from Māori coming out of this year's Dapaanz Cutting Edge conference for people working in addiction treatment.
New Zealand Drug Foundation chair Tuari Potiki says the conference and a preliminary hui at Ōrākei for Māori workers laid down the challenge that Māori have the solutions and the well being pathways for their people, and government agencies should get out of the way so they can implement those solutions.
He says that's in line with a slew of official reports in recent months about how in justice, health, mental health and addiction, education and other areas, the government has failed Māori.
"The evidence is overwhelming that what others have tried to do for us hasn't worked. We don't fit their models. We don't fit their ideas of what illness and wellness are. In using those models and looking at us through those lenses, we are always going to be at the bottom of the heap so we need to flip that on its head and take the leadership," he says.
Mr Potiki says extra resources such as those in the Wellbeing Budget aren't enough if the delivery framework isn't right.
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