The Herald is running a six-part series on the damage methamphetamine is doing to New Zealand. We examine how the drug gets in, its devastating effect on society and what we can do to fix the problem.
Sixteen-year-old Clyde says two things help him persevere when he's feeling down at Odyssey House's Auckland residence for adolescents with drug or alcohol addictions.
The first is his mum.
"I want to make life easier for my mum because it makes me quite sad that I gave her such ahard time, considering how old she is and the stuff she's done for me," he said.
The second thing is his weekly phone calls from his social worker, his lawyer, his youth aid officer and the country's Principal Youth Court Judge, Andrew Becroft.
Clyde* admits that his first six months at Odyssey House two years ago was all "a front". When he got back home to Wellington, he started hanging out with friends who smoked pot.
"I knew they did crime and I knew they had money and I wanted to take on that lifestyle," he said.
"Mum used to just tell me off. There wasn't much else she could do because I was never home."
This time round, late last year, Judge Becroft found him a bed at Odyssey and told him the court's new policy was to keep in touch.
"He thought I had potential. I found that really good. That motivated me to get through the programme properly," Clyde said.
The judge and the other professionals involved in Clyde's life use their weekly phone calls to encourage him.
"He asks me how I'm doing, what level I'm at, if there's anything wrong, if I need support with anything."
Another 16-year-old, Sarah*, looks forward to her weekly calls from her own Wellington-based professionals and Judge John Walker.
"It's pretty cool. I like getting calls from them, just to hear from them," she said.
She started drinking after her parents split up when she was in primary school and has spent time since with each parent in two cities. She has slept rough with other young drinkers.
"Mum knew I was sleeping in parks but she couldn't do much, I never really was at home," she said.
At Odyssey House she has written a letter to her dad after a period of little contact and has decided that if her mum doesn't talk to her - a trigger for her past drinking - she will write to her too.
And if that doesn't work, both youngsters now have a set of professionals to go to.
In Clyde's words: "The judge comes across as like a social worker really, like a family member."
