Drug Dealers Offer Cheaper Starter Packs
Posted on: Wednesday, 30 November 2005, 15:00 CST
By QUIRKE, Michelle
DRUG dealers are offering cut price methamphetamine and starter packs to target younger customers, a new study says.
A glut in supply has forced some dealers to adopt "innovative" marketing ploys, including selling smaller, cheaper bags, or starter packs, and multi-drug cocktails to boost sales, Massey University researchers say.
Methamphetamine, or P, costs about $100 for 0.1 of a gram, known as a "point", but some dealers are selling the drug for $80, or smaller amounts in $50 bags, customers say.
About a quarter of the 181 drug users surveyed said they could buy crystal methamphetamine, or ice, in less than 20 minutes, making it one of the easiest drugs to get. More than half said they could get methamphetamine within hours.
Researcher Chris Wilkins said an increasing number of heavy users were injecting methamphetamine, which could lead to a rise in diseases such as HIV as it seemed they were less likely than other intravenous drug users to seek advice on safe injecting or safe sex.
The party drug ecstasy was also easier and cheaper to buy, and was regarded as less risky than P, which was blamed for paranoia and depression, side effects that may reduce its long-term popularity, the survey of drug users in Northland, Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch found.
"The impression is that the methamphetamine epidemic is further along than ecstasy, but ecstasy may stay around longer," Dr Wilkins said.
Cannabis availability and prices were steady but lsd use was waning because it was harder to get. The market for heroin, cocaine and other opiate-based drugs was low.
Most drug sales were made in friends' homes, though one in five P users had bought it from a gang member in the past six months.
The survey by Massey's Centre for Social and Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation was funded by police and will be repeated annually.
Police national drug intelligence bureau spokesman Les Maxwell said the findings would be shared with other agencies and would be considered by the ministerial committee on drug policy. Several initiatives were already under way to tackle illegal drug manufacture and trafficking.
Source: Dominion Post
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