Iwi to place rahui on scourge of P

Some Tauranga Maori are placing a rahui on methamphetamine in a hardline stand against the drug.

The ban will be imposed throughout the Matapihi Peninsula near Mt Maunganui at an early morning ceremony tomorrow.

Most Matapihi residents are descendants of Ngai Tukairangi, Ngati Tapu and Ngati Kuku, all three of which are hapu of Ngaiterangi iwi.

"Placing a tapu is an effective cultural way of dealing with a major community problem," Ngaiterangi spokesman Brian Dickson said yesterday.

"If we can place a rahui for conservation reasons, why can't we place one to protect our future generations against the evil of P?"

Although a rahui was usually reserved to protect ocean and land resources, he said, Matapihi people decided it was time to make the move to safeguard all that was important to them - their whanau and their community.

"We are taking a traditional Maori method and utilising it as a means of dealing with issues and adapting them for the contemporary problems of today," Mr Dickson said.

"The local kaumatua and tohunga are a hundred per cent behind this and will be placing the rahui at 6am."

Matapihi elders had seen the impact that methamphetamine had had and were prepared to show a lead.

"We expect the benefits of this rahui will not only be seen in Matapihi but through Tauranga Moana as a whole," he said.

Two carvings would be erected alongside billboards at each end of the Matapihi Peninsula to warn people of the rahui.

In another initiative earlier this year, Ngaiterangi iwi adopted a random drug testing policy for its public health employees to show they were "beyond question".

"It's one way of showing there are no junkies on patrol," said runanga manager Paul Stanley, who is tested randomly with his staff for five drugs, including methamphetamine, or P, and cannabis.

Banned areas

In Maoridom, a tapu area was considered sacred and holy.

It was believed that anyone breaking the tapu would face spiritual consequences.