Live-in drug rehab needed for Tauranga
Calls for a Tauranga residential drug rehabilitation centre have reignited as people aged 13 to 65 battle addictions and Tauranga consumes “one kilo of meth” a week.
Last week, the Ministry of Health announced a new seven-bed residential facility and programmes to address methamphetamine harm in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
They would be paid for by the Proceeds of Crime Fund.
Minister of Health Andrew Little said demand for addiction treatment services had grown “steadily” over the past decade and more needed to be done to support people and communities struggling with drugs.
But in Tauranga, social workers said waiting lists of up to six months for facilities in Rotorua or Hamilton meant addicts needing rehab could not kick their habits. Some felt the system was failing them.
Nga¯ i Te Rangi social worker Glenn Shee started drinking alcohol at 12 before spiralling into cannabis and “every drug you could think of”.
In 1995, he was living in Brisbane and addicted to methamphetamine.
“I lost everything and was on a total landslide.”
An intervention by his brother and parents brought him home to Tauranga, where he tried to sort his life out and worked at the family business before relapsing.
He knew then “I needed to get my **** together”.
Frustrated counsellors did not know much about his addiction as it was relatively new in New Zealand. He was encouraged to study so that he could share his experience. He graduated with a degree in social work in 2013.
It took more than three decades but Shee finally got sober.
He has become an advocate for a residential drug rehabilitation centre and said it was “ridiculous” the fastestgrowing regional city in the country didn’t have one.
“Our biggest challenge is getting our clients into rehab. The waitlist is just astronomical.”
Nga¯ i Te Rangi Mauritau addictions and mental health unit took self-referrals or people referred from the probation office, education sector, Bay of Plenty District Health Board and other agencies.
Last year, the service supported about 200 people with drug and alcohol problems.
Meth, LSD, ecstasy, cannabis and alcohol were the main addictions the service was dealing with and the aftermath could be horrific.
Shee said: “I can’t remember a lot of my life, it was a drug haze”.
“I don’t want the youth of today and others to end up in that position. It was hell.”
Nga¯ i Te Rangi Community Action youth alcohol and drug coordinator Mikaere Stanley, from a teaching background, was working on a drug and alcohol forum.
The idea was to partner with agencies to help to support wha¯ nau to curb their addictions and help loved ones who were dealing with the aftermath.
“We work with people who want to share their stories. It’s real ko¯ rero on how they are struggling with their addictions, and how it has impacted their families and children.”
Chief executive Paora Stanley believed drugs and alcohol were the symptoms of a wider problem.
Treatment centres had horrific failure rates and he was in favour of services that had a Wha¯ nau Ora approach, bringing a whole family in rather than just individuals.
Te Tuinga Whanau chief executive Tommy Wilson said he attended a lecture that revealed: “Tauranga was chewing through a kilo of meth a week, which equates to about $1 million.”
He said it was time to look at meth use from a medicinal point of view and not a criminal point of view, “so the argument to have a rehab centre is stronger than ever”.
Alcohol was also a big issue, and in his opinion, “we are demonising P and glamourising grog”.
Salvation Army’s Michael Douglas said the impact of harmful substance use and addiction was devastating for individuals and their wha¯ nau.
A Tauranga Bridge programme that directly supported 107 people in the year to May was down from 136 to May 2021. However, the drop in engagement was attributed to Covid.
Bay of Plenty DHB planning and funding general manager Mike Agnew said any move towards a local service provision would need a transition process to avoid destabilising existing services.
The Bay of Plenty Addiction Service was the regional secondary addiction service and operated on a case-management model available to those aged 18 and over. It has 346 clients across its Tauranga and Whakata¯ ne sites.