‘We flipped the script on addiction’
Hate the drug not the addict is the motto of a group of former gangsters fighting the P epidemic, writes Matt Shand. Nine female Pasifika film-makers joined forces to make writes James Croot.
A self-proclaimed group of ‘‘meth vigilantes’’ claims to have gone straight in its fight to rid the country’s streets of drug dealers.
The Anti-P Ministry, which was started two years ago by former gang members Brendon Warne, an ordained minister, and Junior Kapene, now admit their guerrilla tactics were ineffective when weighed against the risk.
What started as a few members kicking in doors and running meth suppliers out of town has grown into a nationwide organisation with more than 6100 members.
They preach a life free of drugs.
‘‘What we were doing then was targeting the supply, but there was always more,’’ Warne said. ‘‘What we have done now is come out of the shadows and started a movement killing the market altogether.’’
The Anti-P Ministry has grown to include walk-in meth clinics being set up by members and a weekly Online Recovery Church, broadcast live to Facebook members with up to 500 viewing each week.
‘‘We flipped the script on addiction,’’ Warne said. ‘‘Having the message out in the open is doing more good than anything. I also studied and got my mental health and addictions level 4 qualifications.’’
Most members of the Anti-P Ministry are former users themselves or whanau. Users track their days clean via phone apps and keep each other honest – it is a source of pride for a member when they can show off how many days they have been clean.
At the time of the interview, Warne was 727 days clean, another group member called Rahera was 1060 days clean, and Kawerau chapter leader Dee Rumbal was nine months and nine days clean.
The organisation believes every day a user is clean equals less money in meth dealers’ pockets.
Rumbal said she became involved in the Anti-P Ministry when she was looking for help getting clean.
‘‘Being surrounded by people who know what you are going through and know what it is like is so much supportive and helping keep people clean,’’ she said.
Former Black Power NZ President Junior Kapene said the Anti-P Ministry is his way of paying back for what he has done in the past. Kapene can speak first-hand to the change in Anti-P Ministry tactics, having been arrested for kidnapping an alleged meth supplier.
‘‘I went into an (alleged) P house, kicked the door in and kidnapped the cook. I didn’t think that me going around kicking in doors to P houses was doing any harm but there are kids in these houses who saw me doing that.’’
Kapene said it was that guilt that drove him to help Warne during the early days of the Ministry, but the tactics they employed were revealed to be repeating a vicious cycle.
‘‘I wondered how I turned out the way I did . . . seeing something horrific like that. Just like I did to those two kids watching. They are now carrying what I carried. It was not going to work out that way.’’
Kapene left for Invercargill to get away from the scene and he became an ardent member of the Anti-P Ministry’s new way of conducting itself – legitimately with no violence.
‘‘Me doing this is the best thing I can ever be part of in my life,’’ Kapene said.
‘‘P is not going to go away so long as people want to use it. We need to give more people help to get clean.’’
Police said they welcomed help from community organisations in the fight against methamphetamine.
‘‘Police are committed to reducing the impact of methamphetamine on our communities,’’ serious and organised crime assistant commissioner Richard Chambers said.
‘‘This requires a joined-up approach from the community and government agencies with a focus on enforcement, prevention, treatment, and harm reduction.’’
‘P is not going to go away so long as people want to use it. We need to give more people help to get clean.’ JUNIOR KAPENE
Their online recovery church is held every Sunday at 4.30pm broadcast live on the Anti-P Ministry Facebook page.
An ambitious Kiwi film debuts at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival this weekend. Vai tells the story of one woman’s life, as shaped by her connection to the many lands of the South Pacific.
It is the latest creation by the producers behind 2017’s critically acclaimed portmanteau drama, Waru and it’s told in a unique, bold way – as eight vignettes created by nine female Pasifika filmmakers.
Eight women portray the main character, Vai, at different points in her life.
Speaking ahead of the movie’s Berlin showing, producers Kerry Warkia and Kiel McNaughton say Waru and Vai are part of a proposed trilogy of ‘‘sister films’’ aimed at allowing under-represented voices to have ‘‘full control over their stories and directions’’.
Ofa-ki-Levuka GuttenbeilLikiliki, Amberley Jo Aumua, Becs Arahanga, Dianna Fuemana, Marina Alofagia McCartney, Mı¯ria George, Matasila Freshwater, and Sharon and Nicole Whippy, were chosen from about 65 Pasifika female writers and directors.
Each has an indigenous ancestral connection to one of the seven countries (New Zealand, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Fiji, Cook Islands and Niue) where the individual stories are set.
McNaughton says they chose their locations, and subsequently the film-makers, after looking at where New Zealand-based Pasifika populations hailed from. ‘‘Obviously there’s a huge Samoan contingent living in