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# Meth use in NZ hits record high, but Ōpōtiki bucks the trend
- URL: https://goodoil.news/meth-use-in-nz-hits-record-high-but-opotiki-bucks-the-trend/
- Published: 2025-03-02T09:34:07.000Z
- Updated: 2025-03-02T19:50:26.000Z
- Description: Meth use plummeted by 50% after police dismantled a Mongrel Mob drug ring.
- Author: Centrist
- Tags: News

Summarised by [Centrist](http://centrist.nz/?ref=goodoil.news)

**Despite record-breaking drug busts, meth has never been cheaper or more available, thanks to a flood of supply from Mexican cartels and Asian crime syndicates.**

**October 2024 set a new record of 39.2kg of meth consumed per week—nearly double the previous high, according to police wastewater data.** 

**“The world is awash with drugs,” said Detective Inspector Tim Chao, who oversees the National Drug Intelligence Bureau, but not in Ōpōtiki.**

Yet in Ōpōtiki, a small town in the eastern Bay of Plenty, meth use plummeted by 50% after police dismantled a Mongrel Mob drug ring in Operation Highwater. Wastewater data showed weekly consumption fell from 119g to 54g over three months, a stark contrast to the nationwide trend. 

Police Inspector Jock O’Keefe credited the success to targeted gang arrests combined with community support efforts. “In a small location, if you take out 20 of their key \[gang\] members… you are going to see an impact,” he said.

[**Read more over at The NZ Herald**](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/meth-use-in-nz-spikes-to-record-high-except-in-opotiki-after-mongrel-mob-bust/IUCYYLOZD5CRLCLX3UIYLW4C24/?ref=goodoil.news) (paywalled)

Image: [WikiLinuz](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:WikiLinuz?ref=goodoil.news)

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