Demand for hard drugs behind record border seizures

NZ Herald 6 March 2019
Family First Comment: “The UN agency tasked with upholding international anti-drug treaties (International Narcotics Control Board (INCB)) offers a hardline stance on cannabis, saying the drug represents a “significant challenge to health and wellbeing, particularly among young people” and legalising it “contravenes the international drug control treaties”.
Are you listening, Labour, Greens and Drug Foundation?

New Zealand’s “resilient” demand for hard drugs is laid bare in a new report from the United Nations.

The UN agency tasked with upholding international anti-drug treaties outlines big increases in seizures of cocaine, heroin and ecstasy while noting high availability of methamphetamine.

And with a binding referendum due next year, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) offers a hardline stance on cannabis, saying the drug represents a “significant challenge to health and wellbeing, particularly among young people” and legalising it “contravenes the international drug control treaties”.

Released late last night , the INCB’s annual report details its efforts to “identify and predict dangerous trends” and suggest “necessary measures”.

The section on Oceania includes data about drug seizures and use in New Zealand. Although it only notes changes between 2016 and 2017, researchers here suggested those figures chimed with longer-term trends.

Over that period, the amount of cocaine seized tripled. While the number of busts rose less sharply, that indicated traffickers were trying to move bigger amounts at a time.
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