{"id":438682,"date":"2026-05-21T17:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T17:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/438682\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T17:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T17:43:09","slug":"facebook-messenger-now-key-meth-buying-tool-in-northland-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/438682\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook Messenger now key meth-buying tool in Northland, study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Facebook Messenger has emerged in recent years as a leading platform for people buying drugs via social media.<\/p>\n

The New Zealand Drug Trends Survey (NZDTS) last year found 49% of social media drug purchasers nationwide used Facebook Messenger in the last six months of the survey.<\/p>\n

In Northland, the figure was higher at 69% among respondents surveyed.<\/p>\n

About 8883 people with recent experience and knowledge of drug use and drug markets in New Zealand took part in the anonymous survey. It is designed to provide an annual snapshot of drug market trends nationally.<\/p>\n

The people more likely to use Facebook Messenger to buy drugs had lower annual incomes, were from smaller towns or rural areas, and bought from multiple sellers.<\/p>\n

Wastewater testing from the fourth quarter last year showed Northland had the highest per capita meth consumption<\/a> in the country, above its own four-quarter average.<\/p>\n

A 55% drop in the price of methamphetamine <\/a>since 2017 is believed to partly explain the rise, lowering barriers \u201cleft, right and centre\u201d, according to drug researcher Dr Robin van der Sanden.<\/p>\n

She said Facebook was another layer on top of the traditional drug market<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The social media platform was a convenient \u2013 almost default \u2013 way to access drugs, van der Sanden said.<\/p>\n

\"DrugDrug researcher Dr Robin van der Sanden says social media is a convenient way to access drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cA good way to think about it is as a digital routing layer sitting on top of a traditional physical drug market.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese markets aren\u2019t strictly digital \u2013 the pick-up, drop-off, and cash side of things still looks very similar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Social media, however, simplifies advertising, networking, logistics<\/a>, making it easier for buyers to connect with existing suppliers.<\/p>\n

Survey results reinforced that, showing Facebook Messenger was associated with buying from gang members or affiliates.<\/p>\n

This likely reflects how easily people can identify gang-linked drug sellers, who have played a central role in Northland\u2019s methamphetamine market<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New Zealand Drug Foundation executive director Sarah Helm said trying to reduce drug supply in a digital market was \u201clike playing whack-a-mole\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201c … The black market will always find new ways of getting their product out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said buying drugs online wasn\u2019t new, and the use of social media for various transactions reflected a shift in how people communicate.<\/p>\n

Helm was troubled by sophisticated technology being a tool in drug suppliers\u2019 pockets.<\/p>\n

There had been a shift toward organised crime using AI and bots to reach people via social media, she said.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew Zealand Drug Foundation executive director Sarah Helm.<\/p>\n

AI-powered vendors could now sell directly to people through social platforms.<\/p>\n

Helm said the risk was accelerated as AI advanced and sellers found ways around platform protections.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the increase in availability, we need to prepare for further increases in use and invest in harm reduction and health services, so people can access them early to talk openly about their substance use patterns and get support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helm\u2019s comments follow a performance improvement review of New Zealand Police released in April.<\/p>\n

The review said policing needed to adapt to a crime and harm environment that was increasingly networked, cyber-enabled and transnational.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe borderless nature of digital platforms adds an international dimension to an already challenging enforcement landscape,\u201d the review said.<\/p>\n

It outlined how digital technology could multiply harm by amplifying the scale, speed and reach of illegal activity. Such technology helped criminals scale up, hide or automate their activity.<\/p>\n

\"AA recent police review stated policing needed to adapt to a crime and harm environment that was increasingly networked, cyber-enabled, and transnational. Photo \/ 123rf<\/p>\n

It enabled criminal networks to diversify operations, such as trafficking drugs, committing cyber-enabled fraud, and laundering proceeds simultaneously.<\/p>\n

Detective Inspector Rhys Johnson of the Northland Criminal Investigation Branch said police couldn\u2019t provide detailed information about how drugs are bought and sold online.<\/p>\n

But they were targeting the distribution of illicit drugs, including online.<\/p>\n

\u201cIllicit drugs cause serious impacts and harm for individuals and their families and often has a ripple effect across the community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Police were working with agencies responding to organised crime and those at risk of engaging in or becoming victims of it.<\/p>\n

That included people affected by methamphetamine, youth on the path to organised crime, and their families.<\/p>\n

Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whang\u0101rei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Facebook Messenger has emerged in recent years as a leading platform for people buying drugs via social media.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4995,129250,4636,11424,78,51928,5511,4277,46632,13240,224256,111,43,139,1067,425,69,383,6305],"class_list":["post-438682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-away","tag-clicks","tag-facebook","tag-finds","tag-in","tag-increasingly","tag-just","tag-key","tag-messenger","tag-methamphetamine","tag-methbuying","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-now","tag-nz","tag-study","tag-tool"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}