Gangs crack down on P use

Gangs around the country are banning methamphetamine, commonly known as P, to avoid being torn apart by escalating drug use.

The drug has turned loyal patch members into lying junkies and thrown gangs into strife as they grapple with its ravaging effects.

Canterbury University gang researcher Jarrod Gilbert said gangs had watched the drug slowly erode brotherhood and fuel destructive behaviour among members.

One policeman told him P was doing their job for them, Mr Gilbert said. "If you become addicted you could start stealing off your brothers. If [gangs] have not banned it, they are thinking about it."

In the 1970s, gangs banned heroin in the same way they were now banning P, said Mr Gilbert, who has been visiting and touring with gangs around the country for the past three years for a thesis on New Zealand gang history.

Christchurch Black Power president Shane Turner said the gang would not accept the use or selling of P because its effects were too destructive.

"People on P would rip the eyeballs out of their grandmother while she was not looking. That's how bad P is," said Mr Turner.

Detective Sergeant Ross Tarawhiti of the Canterbury police district crime unit said he would be pleased if gangs were banning P but he doubted it would last because of the vast sums of money they could make from it.

"You can get $100 for 0.1g," he said - five times more than for marijuana.

- NZPA