Meth-fuelled violence hits nightlife

Nelson bars and night clubs are turning away a growing number of people suspected of using methamphetamine, with the Class A drug causing more fights in the city centre, hospitality workers say.

Long-standing owner of the former Shark Bar on Bridge Street, Steve Shepherd, hired extra security at the club after becoming aware the drug, also known as ‘‘P’’, was changing clientele behaviour.

‘‘We estimate a third of our customers at any one time were using, or had the effects of meth,’’ said Shepherd, who owned the business for 17 years, before selling it in October.

‘‘The customers were more aggressive. Rather than being mellow and playing pool, they’re highly anxious, highly alert. They’re quite often looking for an opportunity to rip someone off, steal a handbag, phones.’’

The spread of the drug among customers first came to his attention about about four years ago, when alcohol sales dropped.

‘‘... It’s not like they were going anywhere else, they didn’t have the money. They were spending it on something else, in this case meth,’’ said Shepherd.

‘‘There are lots of cases where you can see that they’ve even tried to smoke it on the premises. For example we regularly were losing lightbulbs, they were unscrewing them, snapping them off, using that as a bowl [to smoke the drug].’’

People had on occasion been trespassed for trying to deal methamphetamine on the premises, the bar’s former manager Craig Seelen said.

Door staff were turning away an increasing number of people showing signs of having used the drug.

‘‘With meth there’s anger, they’re always arguing the point, they start trying to stand over you. You can see the underlying anger that’s there with meth, it’s shocking.’’

People with the drug in their system would also be fidgety and erratic, said Seelen, who now manages the Wakatu Hotel bar on Collingwood St.

‘‘The bars and pubs are doing everything in their power to stop those people from getting in, but once they’re on the street, once they’re in town, there’s no police presence or there’s no one around town when happening.’’

That had put a lot of good people off coming into town, he maintained.

‘‘There was more fighting on the streets, and by the time the police arrived, they’d gone.’’

Meth had now replaced things start marijuana as the drug causing most problems in the city, he claimed. ‘‘I’ve got fishermen coming off boats that are telling me, when they got off a boat, they can get meth easier than they can get marijuana.’’

Duty manager of Malbas bar and nightclub, Jason Kaisia confirmed door staff were also having to turn more people away, with bouncers identifying them as being ‘‘on something’’. While hard to pin-point the drug behind people’s behaviour, ‘‘you definitely know that the meth is pretty strong around Nelson at the moment,’’ he said.

‘‘There’s a few people that come out and you recognise straight away that they’re on it. It used to be party pills, but now it’s P.’’

Nelson’s nightlife was deteriorating because people were increasingly coming into town after midnight loaded up on alcohol and drugs, with at least four bars closing over the years, he said.