'We just want her home': Family spots Auckland woman high on synthetics in video online

The woman high on synthetic cannabis in a playground in west Auckland is from the North Shore and has been missing from home for nearly a month.

Her family hadn't seen her since they spotted her in the video on Facebook.

Her brother, who does not want to be named, spoke to the NZ Herald about the pain of watching his sister struggle with addiction.

He says he hopes the people who watch the video can understand that his sister is the victim of an addiction, not an offender.

According to her brother, the family picked her up from North Shore Hospital about a month and a half ago, after she'd received treatment after getting beaten up "quite badly". They took her home and hoped to help her end her addiction but, two weeks later, she was gone. Her brother said she tried hard to stay off the drug for those two weeks but "the side effects were horrible".

"We go looking for her," he said, explaining that he goes for long drives searching for his sister. "But I think she has probably been told we're looking and runs away".

The 44-year-old woman is said to be in an abusive relationship and struggling with a synthetic cannabis addiction.

"This all started when her kids were taken from her and she lost her father" a few years ago, he explains. "It started with the synthetics you could buy from a shop."

The woman has five children who live in Australia with their father. "They've all seen the video now," he says.

"We love her and want her back."