Kerre Woodham: Why are people still using meth?

About this episode

Kerre Woodham discusses the rising methamphetamine use and its implications across different socioeconomic groups.

Our meth use continues to break records. According to the latest wastewater drug test, methamphetamine use is up 15% since the last quarter. And wastewater testing is pretty accurate. Consumption of methamphetamine and MDMA both increased. MDMA use does have a seasonal component though, they said, with increases during the summer music festival period from January to March. People pop a pill while they're at the festivals and then pretty much get on with their lives.   But meth use, up 15% since the last quarter, and my question is why? Why? Why are people taking up this pernicious drug when there is so much harm associated with it? Do they think that all the stories they hear, all the stats you read or hear, all the pearl-clutching is just middle class, middle New Zealand moral panic? Surely not. Meth use seems to be across all socioeconomic groups, but even on TikTok, Instagram, you've got former users who are saying how much better their lives are now that they've got free of the clutches of the drug and the gangs who control it, that they can't believe that they let themselves get hooked, that they were so low that they wanted to die and now they're out of it.  Why…

People in this episode

Host: Kerre Woodham

Topics covered

• meth use
• drug addiction
• socioeconomic factors
• wastewater testing
• MDMA
• social media influence

Keywords

• methamphetamine
• MDMA
• drug use
• addiction
• socioeconomic
• wastewater testing
• New Zealand

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Newstalk ZB

Products: methamphetamine, MDMA

Places: New Zealand, TikTok, Instagram

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