By 1news.co.nz and is republished with permission
The Auckland City Mission is contacting up to 400 people after methamphetamine disguised as lollies was included in food parcels, the City Missioner said today.
To date, at least eight different families have been affected – Missioner Helen Robinson said, adding on current information no-one had been hospitalised.
There was at least once instance of a child being given one of the lollies – Robinson said they spat it out immediately.
The drug was discovered early on Tuesday afternoon when someone who received a parcel told the mission that the lolly—in a pineapple-flavoured Rinda branded wrapping tasted funny. Staff took the remaining lollies to the Drug Foundation for testing.
The charity said people who had started eating the lollies reported a “bitter” taste and feeling unusual.
“If I could say one good thing or irony here, is that the taste of it is revolting,” Robinson said at a media conference on Wednesday.
“The most common story that I have heard when people describe it, or when one of our staff members describes it to me, is that it is acrid and revolting. So people have a taste and spit it out.
“And that process of spitting it out certainly helps them. It does not mean that they may still be affected.”
Robinson warned “only a very small touch or lick” of the lollies could be deeply affecting, and the Mission has been contacting between 300 and 400 people who may have been passed the meth disguised as sweets.
Police were contacted yesterday after a test of one of the lollies found as much as 300 “common” doses of methamphetamine, considered an “extremely dangerous” amount.
The suspect Rinda-branded pineapple lollies were originally donated by an unknown member of the public in a sealed retail-sized bag, the Auckland City Mission said.
They may have been distributed to recipients in food parcels between July 1 and yesterday, August 13.
Yesterday, the city mission was contacting the possible recipients of the lollies to inform them of the issue and guide them on what to do next.
Robinson told media she was “very proud” of the person who first alerted Auckland City Mission about the strange-tasting lolly.
“I rang them directly last night and said that their actions had potentially saved lives in our country and that I wanted to acknowledge them and thank them for that,” she said.
She also praised the cooperation between the City Mission, police, and the NZ Drug Foundation after the person called in.
She said it was a “very complex and difficult situation, knowing that a reasonable person would believe that this is a very safe item of food to consume”.
How did the drugs enter New Zealand?
Drug Foundation executive director Sarah Helm said the lolly, wrapped in the brand’s packaging, contained approximately 3g of methamphetamine.
“A common dose to swallow is between 10-25mg, so this contaminated lolly contained up to 300 doses. Swallowing that much methamphetamine is extremely dangerous and could result in death.”
Drug Foundation deputy executive director Ben Birks told media the lolly was essentially a “block” of methamphetamine and had a street value of around $1000 per lolly.
Briks said it was “common” for drug smugglers to disguise products as something else so they could be imported into New Zealand.
“So our assumption at this point is that this is unlikely to be intentional (the drugs being handed to the mission), but we’ll leave that ultimately over to the police to make their decisions,” he said
“We are also part of a very volatile international drug market. So, while this may be the first time we have seen this in New Zealand in this manner, this is happening overseas, and we are likely to see more of this.
“We need to make sure that we have all strings in our bow to be able to respond and keep public safety there.”
He said one lolly was brought to the Drug Foundation yesterday, and multiple tests on different parts of it were done.
Robinson was asked if it had crossed her mind that the drugs were donated intentionally to target vulnerable people.
“I’d have to acknowledge it crossed my mind,” she said.
“But in the conversations that I’ve had with both the New Zealand Drug Foundation and the police, I think what Ben said before is very important that that the street value of this bag of lollies is a lot of money.
“It makes most sense that, actually, this accidentally came to us.”
All agencies are urging anyone who might have eaten the laced lollies to call 111, quoting fire number file number 240813/5919.
Lollies with ‘lethal’ levels of meth distributed in food parcels
If you are feeling unwell you should go to your nearest healthcare provider urgently. You can also call the national poison line on 0800 764 766.
Symptoms can include chest pain, a racing heart, seizures, hyperthermia, delirium, and a loss of consciousness. High Alert – part of the National Drug Intelligence Bureau responsible for drug harm notifications – has also been alerted.
