“If enforcement is working, why are more drugs flowing into the country?”
That is the central question for Police Minister Mark Mitchell, who recently announced New Zealand will send five police officers and drug dogs to Samoa to help combat South American cartels using the Pacific as a drug superhighway.
The move comes as police wastewater testing showed a 98% increase in the use of cocaine by Kiwis during the final quarter of 2025 – overtaking MDMA use for the first time.
Testing also showed New Zealanders consumed over 37kg of methamphetamine per week during the same period.
Mitchell argued the increase in detections didn’t necessarily mean more people were taking drugs – instead, wastewater testing by police showed existing users were taking meth more frequently, he said.
However, the scale of the increase raised questions about the impact enforcement had on drug supply.
Police have carried out major drug enforcement operations and jailed senior gang figures, yet drugs continue to arrive in significant quantities.
“Cartels are well organised, they’ve got big networks they’ve got plenty of money, they’re very inventive in terms of how they do things,” Mitchell said.
