The Herald's War on P series last year produced an overwhelming reaction from readers and a swift response from the Government. This week we revisit the people and the issues to find out what has changed.
When Suzanne came home and found her house wrecked, she knew she had to make her P-addicted son move out.
"We had to stop having anything to do with him because he used to burgle us as well. You'd come home from work and your house would be turned over - just so he could get money to buy drugs.
"And it's really sad to see one of your kids do that."
The West Auckland mother was one of the dozens of concerned readers who contacted the Herald in May last year in response to the War on P series about methamphetamine abuse.
She discovered her son was using and selling marijuana only when he was expelled from school at the age of 15.
"Then it was just a downhill slide. He was in rehab at the age of 18 in Odyssey House and by 20 he was in jail.
"I've never been able to get any help for him. From the time he was 14, when he first started going off the rails, I've tried every Government agency to try and get help.
"Everyone just said, 'Keep talking to him, he'll be all right.' Well, talking doesn't do it."
One of her biggest disappointments was that her son never received any treatment for his addiction in prison, even though he clearly needed it, because his sentence was not long enough for him to qualify.
"He got two years' jail and he served a year, first in Mt Eden, then in Rangipo. I was pleased because I thought he'd get the help he needed.
"But he sat there for a whole year and watched TV. No drug rehabilitation, no counselling, no [discussion on] this is what you can do when you get out."
Even when he was released, probation officers forgot to turn up to appointments to check on his progress.
"The whole system is not geared up to rehabilitate them."
Last October the Government announced moves to tackle P abuse. They included a virtual ban on pseudoephedrine (the main chemical used to make methamphetamine), more customs officers to stop the drug getting in and greater powers for the police against organised crime.
Prime Minister John Key also announced an extra $7 million a year for treatment over the next three years, including a 60 per cent boost in long-term rehabilitation beds. He referred to the anguish expressed by readers in the Herald's coverage, including one mother who watched her son begging on the phone to get into a treatment programme.
Suzanne said she generally agreed with the Government's changes but thought pseudoephedrine should be completely banned and that rehabilitation would work only with long-term support.
Last month she told the Herald that her 23-year-old son had finally agreed to do the Salvation Army's six-week Bridge programme, which he completed but then relapsed.
She said he was no longer smoking P but was using marijuana and alcohol. He was on a sickness benefit with little hope of getting a job and would soon be back in court for breaching periodic detention and could go back to jail.
She felt his best hope now was an application to go on a six-week Army training course at the Burnham military camp, south of Christchurch.
The hard physical challenge could suit him but she was not holding her breath about his chances.
"He's a bit of a lost cause," she admitted. "P really does damage your brain so badly."
