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September 17, 2024
Stronger street drugs threaten lives
Peter Verschaffelt
Posted On September 17, 2024
Download AudioFormer Police Deputy Commissioner Wally Haumaha says New Zealand needs to be on the lookout for efforts to introduce fentanyl and stronger drugs to our streets.
He’s just back from a Native American law enforcement conference where he was speaking about cultural transformation in policing.
He says police services there are dealing not just with methamphetamine but with a lethal combination of the synthetic opioid fentanyl and a horse tranquiliser called xylazine or tranq-dope, which is killing scores of people every week.
“It’s a major problem and my biggest concern for New Zealand is do we become a target and a market for cartels looking at the lucrative market here in New Zealand. We’ve got to be on our toes for what fentanyl may do to our people should it ever grow in quantity in this country,” he says.
Mr Haumaha says it reminded him of the early 2000s when Police teamed up with community leaders like Pita Sharples at Hoani Waititi Marae to warn of the damage methamphetamine was doing to communities.
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