Meth deaths in NZ triple

Chef who ingested large dose of meth while dining at McDonalds among a growing number dying across the country. Ruby Nyika reports.

Achef who ingested a large dose of methamphetamine to hide it from someone he thought was an undercover cop in McDonalds, died soon after.

The man, who died a day short of his 41st birthday, is one of 64 people found to have died – at least in part – as a result of methamphetamine related toxicity over slightly less than five years, according to inquest reports released under the Official Information Act.

It’s a number that appears to be rising, with a tripling of such deaths from seven recorded in 2015 to 21 in 2018.

The spike coincides with cheaper ‘‘P’’, which is also more available to users, particularly in Auckland, Wellington and Waikato, researchers say.

Some of the victims died after mixing methamphetamine with other substances, or taking a particularly strong dose of the stimulant. Others had underlying cardiac issues – in some cases caused by long term drug abuse – with a final dose of the drug causing their hearts to give up.

‘‘Due to the way in which information is presented to the Coroner, this data may not represent every death directly caused by methamphetamine,’’ according to the Ministry of Justice. Some of the 64 cases are provincial, as the findings are yet to be completed.

The coroner’s reports of those fatally poisoned by methamphetamine starkly reveal the last moments of retirees, marketing managers, beneficiaries and nurses.

Of the 31 completed reports, the vast majority note that the victim was a known user of drugs. A third reported cardiac issues in the victim, which a recent study has revealed can be caused by the use of ‘‘P’’.

The victims

In one case a 40-year-old chef died after ingesting a large dose of methamphetamine to hide it from a person he thought to be an undercover police officer in McDonalds.

The man and his partner had stopped there for breakfast when the man he became paranoid and left for the bathroom.

‘‘[His partner] said that she had told him that the man he was referring to had been chatting to a person working at McDonalds,’’ Coroner Katherine Greig said in her findings. ‘‘

‘‘He said to her that the pigs [police] thought they could bring him down ‘but I have taken it all’.’’

Shortly after McDonalds, he began and sweating.

His partner drove him to the Emergency Department, where he began to have seizures and was pronounced dead within the hour.

Another long term user, a 37-year-old man in Coromandel, leaving shaking was expecting his first child with his partner when a large dose of the drug appears to have sent him into a paranoid frenzy. He sat in the lounge with a crossbow and eventually began smashing household items, according to his partner, who locked herself in a room and called emergency services. By the time they arrived, the man was unconscious, with the crossbow still cocked but unloaded beside him. He couldn’t be revived.

And a 45-year-old Auckland plumber – with underlying cardiac issues – was having sexual intercourse with his wife in the lounge, when he sat up, short of breath.

Methamphetamine intoxication was ruled as the direct cause of his death.

A forensic pathologist noted in the coroner’s report that evidence of methamphetamine causing cardiac death was well established, though some erroneously thought a particular ‘‘overdose’’ level must be reached to cause sudden death with someone with heart disease.

In Hamilton, a qualified funeral director was last seen brushing her hair in front of the bathroom mirror in 2018. Minutes later, the mother collapsed and died. The coroner ruled the 28-year-old died from accidental methamphetamine toxicity.

Another Hamilton mother, 38, died in bed following an overdose of methamphetamine, ruled as accidental. It wasn’t until were boyfriend went to kiss her as he headed off to work, that he realised she was cold.

How it can kill you

Methamphetamine works by stimulating the central nervous system, elevating temperature, heart rate and blood pressure, too.

And it appears to be breaking hearts, new research conducted by cardiologists show.

The research was spurred by an ‘‘avalanche’’ of young methamphetamine users with heart failure over the past five to six years, Counties Manukau DHB cardiologist Dr Ruvin Gabriel, one of six researchers involved in the study, said.

Cardiologists are seeing more patients in their mid-30s and 40s – especially Ma¯ ori males from low socio-economic areas, Gabriel said.

‘‘It’s not completely understood exactly how [methamphetamine] does it.

‘‘But methamphetamine itself is toxic to the heart muscle itself and can cause damage to the heart that can be irreversible.

‘‘We are really seeing the sickest of the sick ... The people that we have seen have been using methamphetamine for a long time.’’

Many of the patients die, with the death statistics for this group worse than some cancer types, Gabriel said.

Anecdotally, many of the patient group were battling addiction – often to multiple substances – and wouldn’t return to hospital for treatment.

The ‘tip of the iceberg’

The increase in fatal overdoses coincides with increased availability, a decline in prices and a record seizures of methamphetamine, associate professor Dr Chris Wilkins of Massey’s SHORE and Wha¯riki Research Centre said.

Fatal methamphetamine overdoses have always been ‘‘relatively rare’’, but the drug has long caused death and harm in other ways, such as psychosis, family harm, assault and damaged health.

‘‘I think it’s right to say [overdoses] are just the tip of the iceberg.’’

Waikato, Auckland and Wellington are three regions to have record low prices for methamphetamine, Wilkins said. In some areas, imported methamphetamine has seen the costs halved.

‘‘That really just translates to more users, but higher levels of consumption.’’

Gangs – especially those with links to overseas syndicates – appear to be pushing the availability of the drug.