Craig Hayes has battled with a methamphetamine addiction for the past 20 years. Now he is clean thanks to Te Whare Whakapiki Wairua, the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court. Photo / Dean Purcell
Craig Hayes has battled with a methamphetamine addiction for the past 20 years. Now he is clean thanks to Te Whare Whakapiki Wairua, the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court. Photo / Dean Purcell
Craig Hayes was 19 when he first tried P.
Methamphetamine would become his obsession for the next 20 years, until the day he blacked out behind the wheel following a 16-day bender, and smashed into a parked truck.
Hayes survived the crash but wished he didn't.
The 39-year-old wanted to die but instead he was arrested and ended up in front of Te Whare Whakapiki Wairua, the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court in Auckland.
The court, piloted in Auckland city, Waitākere and Hamilton, aims to break the cycle of offending by treating the causes of that offending.
He told the hui that change to the way alcoholics and drug users were treated by the justice system and society was vital to turning around their offending.
"Is locking someone up over and over for their addiction and expecting them to change their behaviour a reasonable ask?"
Craig Hayes's life was so out of control he would go on 20-day drug benders, driving around armed and wanting to die. Now he's turned his life around he wants to help others. Photo / Dean Purcell
Stigma is a big challenge for recovering addicts, he said.
"If I said, 'Hi, I'm Craig, I'm an IV [intravenous] meth user', ooh that's scary right? Admitting you're an IV meth user, we need to look at it as a sickness, as is Covid, as is the flu, I was sick."
Hayes was facing prison when he was offered another option through the alcohol and drug court, which focuses on treatment, drug testing, monitoring, and mentoring by restoring mana, supporting addicts to change, and providing them with wraparound services.
Many participants wear alcohol detector ankle bracelets, are subject to drug tests up to five times a week, and must attend court for regular check-ins during the years before "graduating".
"The drug court holds you accountable. It's hard, it's really, really hard. But my addiction didn't come overnight and it's not going to disappear overnight.
"I was offered a path to recover, a path to change my ways. I was at the point where I'd been desperate to change for probably the last 10 years.
"But having a dependency to a drug like meth and also being an alcoholic, even if I wanted to I couldn't. I would get sick and I would fall to the pressure to get well, or what I thought was well."
Hayes said he was desperate by the time he appeared at the alcohol and drug court.
"Lying your way through everything, saying you're okay when you're not. Driving around to get what you need, it's ah, it's a very dark place to be in."
Hamilton District Court Judge Denise Clark said Te Ao Mārama was the answer to calls for transformative change in the justice system, of which specialist courts are part of. Photo / Natalie Akoorie
Hayes would sometimes be "up" for 20 days straight and he carried a gun for protection after two of his friends died from gun violence because of meth.
"You can only operate in that manner for so long before someone pulls the trigger. The day I crashed I could have killed myself but worst of all I could have killed someone else.
"I just wanted to die. I was sick of it. I was hoping that that car crash took me with it but I was given another chance."
The first thing he received in the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court (AODT) was peer support.
His peer support, Joe, had lived experience and Hayes said without him he wouldn't be here today.
"He showed me it was possible to recover. He gave me hope when I had none. His story was similar to mine and I could relate to him and he could to me.
"At that point I trusted no one and nothing but when brother reached out and said 'Craig I've been there, I've done that, I can show you the way', he opened the door and I could see the light."
Hayes attended Pitman House for two weeks to safely medically detox, a treatment he said was vitally important because when addicts try to do it themselves they can be at risk of seizures and dying.
He then went into a safe house before entering residential treatment programme Te Wairua - Odyssey, where he has been for 14 months working on his anxiety.
"A lot of my using, the meth, the paranoia, the anxiety that comes with constantly being cooked, the people I hung around with, it was a valid reason to be anxious.
"People are out there dying now ... in order to get and use drugs."
He is now on his way to becoming a peer support worker.
"I can't wind back the damage ... if I can get one person out of that addiction cycle the harm reduction can't be measured."
Waitākere District Court Judge Lisa Tremewan sat in the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court in Hamilton for the first time last week. Photo / Natalie Akoorie
Hamilton District Court Judge Denise Clark said there had been calls for transformative change resulting in Te Ao Mārama, enhancing justice for all, including some of the specialist courts today, including the AODT.
"They have been set up to deal with some specific issues and to try to better understand the reasons why people are coming before the court and work out how we can better address those reasons through a process that involves others."
Waitākere District Court Judge Lisa Tremewan said the courts had a legal obligation to consider a person's background that may be relevant to what's behind their offending.
"Some of this work it seems to me may still be aspirational but the pou has been put in the ground and it's important that the courts are held to account."
The AODT Court was first piloted in Auckland and Waitākere in 2012 and the Kirikiriroa court was set up last year.
An evaluation of the trial in Auckland in 2019 showed AODT graduates experienced better relationships with whānau, improved health, better connections with work or training, and cultural and spiritual values.
Some maintained sobriety for up to four years after graduation.
Within two years, AODT Court participants were less likely to reoffend, less likely to be in prison, and were less involved with police.
However, over longer follow-up periods the effectiveness declined, most clearly in terms of reoffending, and that was thought to be because addiction treatment had waned.
In a video featuring interviews with dozens of graduates, there were several recurring themes in the court, where Tikanga and te reo Māori has been integrated.
These included unwavering support from judges, police and court staff for the participants, getting back their dignity and being treated with respect, they are drug-free and sober, and living healthy, positive lives.
"The judges come down and talk to you," Hayes said. "Judge [David] Sharp often shakes my hand and looks into my eyes and tells me how proud he is of me. That's an amazing feeling.
"I feel like a person who's worth it now. I have hope. I'm optimistic about the future. I'm starting to find my identity and I have meaning in life."
