The Massey researchers said the falling price reflected increased availability through new Pacific supply routes and a \u201cglut in coca production in Central America in recent years\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreater availability, increasing social acceptance and lower prices are all contributing to people using more cocaine,\u201d Wilkins said.<\/p>\n
People who reported using more cocaine most commonly pointed to those three factors.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor those using less or stopping, the cost of cocaine and concerns about their mental and physical health were the main reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
The survey findings are consistent with a sharp rise detected in wastewater testing.<\/p>\n
Estimated cocaine consumption more than doubled from 3.3kg a week in the first quarter of 2024 to 6.8kg a week in the second quarter of this year.<\/p>\n
It reached a peak of 9.4kg a week in the final quarter of last year.<\/p>\n
Reacting to the findings, University of Auckland pharmacy senior lecturer Dr Rhys Ponton said cocaine had historically been scarce in New Zealand compared with the United States and Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf cocaine availability continues to increase, and the price drops further, it is inevitable that we will see an increase in use.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis shift in the market means healthcare professionals and services working with people who use drugs will need to adapt their advice and approaches to include cocaine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ponton said cocaine\u2019s short-lived effects could lead people to take multiple doses over a short period.<\/p>\n
It could also increase heart rate and blood pressure, with potentially harmful effects including strokes, while regular use could lead to psychological dependence.<\/p>\n
Victoria University criminologist Associate Professor Fiona Hutton warned against a \u201cmoral panic\u201d, noting most people surveyed who had recently used cocaine still did so monthly or less frequently.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernments and policymakers should ensure those working with people who use drugs have the resourcing to support those who may have problems associated with cocaine,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The non-representative, anonymous online NZ Drug Trends Survey has so far attracted 3456 respondents this year, including 929 who reported using cocaine in the previous six months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Massey researchers said the falling price reflected increased availability through new Pacific supply routes and a \u201cglut…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6449,806,35435,6434,20926,3401,4526,15248,1866,78,51928,130,111,43,139,306082,69,3333,1518,418,21938,78776,8822,11418,6306,80],"class_list":["post-621810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-accepted","tag-as","tag-becomes","tag-cheaper","tag-cocaine","tag-drug","tag-easier","tag-falls","tag-find","tag-in","tag-increasingly","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-normalised","tag-nz","tag-price","tag-research","tag-shows","tag-surges","tag-surging","tag-survey","tag-trends","tag-use","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621810","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=621810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}