Admit it's serious, urges P lobbyist

Marie Cotter

Fight Against P organiser Marie Cotter says the Government is still not doing enough to stop abuse of the drug and wants it to admit New Zealand has a serious P problem.

Ms Cotter's plea for more Government help was in direct contrast to comments earlier yesterday from Jim Anderton, the minister in charge of drug strategy, that the Government was already "doing practically everything we can".

Mr Anderton said on National Radio that he had sent out a million leaflets on P, held community meetings, Parliament had recategorised P - pure methamphetamine - as a class A drug, and that the Government had provided $50 million to strengthen police work in the area.

"We can't hype this too much because if we do, we lose focus."

He said the most deadly drug in NZ was tobacco, which killed 4700 people a year. The drug causing the most social problems was alcohol, and the drug most connected to suicide and depression was cannabis.

"Having said that, P is probably the most dangerous drug that we've had on our horizons."

Ms Cotter told the Herald the Government's measures were not enough.

She said it needed to admit New Zealand had a serious problem with P.

She also called for greater drug education and support for addicts.

Mr Anderton said he always welcomed people such as Ms Cotter raising the awareness of P.

"But ... in the end the community has to put its hand up."

Green MPs Metiria Turei and Sue Kedgley agreed that the Government needed to do more to fight the drug.