US Government thinks New Zealand may be next market for deadly drug fentanyl

A United States State Department briefing suggests Australia and New Zealand could be the next target for international criminal cartels looking to sell the synthetic opioid fentanyl.

In a Washington Foreign Press Centre briefing yesterday, senior fellow of foreign policy Dr Vanda Felbab-Brown suggested there is a high potential for the drug emerging in the two countries.

“They’re highly valuable markets with high profit margins,” she said.

“We see again not just the Chinese criminal networks that have long been dominant actors in methamphetamine there, but also now Sinoa Cartel and Jalisco Nueva Generacion trying to penetrate those markets, bringing in cocaine, bringing in meth, and those established channels provide ample opportunities for spreading synthetic opioids.”

National Drug Intelligence Bureau intelligence fusion manager Julia Smith last year told the Herald indicators monitored by the agency suggest fentanyl misuse in New Zealand continues to be low.

Smith said there had been just three seizures of fentanyl since 2021, and two detections of the drug above the reporting threshold since January that year, which may be attributed to legitimate prescriptions.

“Overseas, high levels of prescribing, or the over-prescribing, of fentanyl has been a gateway to opioid misuse, consequently increasing demand in the illicit market,” Smith said.

Four deaths in New Zealand were reported as a result of drug overdose where fentanyl was recorded as contributing to or the cause of death in 2021.

In 2022, half a dozen Masterton residents overdosed on fentanyl within 48 hours.

A police investigation revealed some users knew the substance was fentanyl, despite their earlier saying it was sold as either cocaine or methamphetamine.

“Medsafe ensures New Zealand maintains best practice prescribing for fentanyl. This is vital to minimise diversion and the risk of expanding illicit demand through prescription drug abuse,” Smith said.

Data in a report from the Drug Foundation released in 2022 showed 171 people died from a drug overdose in 2021, up from 111 in 2017.

Overdoses over the five-year period rose 54 per cent across New Zealand - an increase not accounted for by a 6 per cent increase in population in that time.

The report had opioid overdoses as clearly the top killer, with 333 deaths since 2017.