New Zealand’s drug watchdogs are still unsure where the fentanyl came from which sent 12 to the hospital in Wairarapa, almost a week after it was digested.
This is because data released by Customs under the Official Information Act show only small amounts of the powerful opioid are picked up at the border.
The synthetic opiate is 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin and two milligrams consumed is probably enough to kill someone. One gram is the equivalent of 20,000 safe doses.
Bruce Berry said the drug could have come from legally obtained fentanyl offered in the New Zealand health system.
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“The police are looking at the supply chain domestically, we still do not know if the adultery was added domestically or abroad, we know they thought they were consuming cocaine,” the Customs intelligence boss said.
However, because the remedy was as powerful, without strong quality control as a pharmacist offers, any other remedy cut with fentanyl, to mimic the base remedy and make it cheaper, was risky, Berry said.
“It’s cheap and it’s highly efficient and you do not need much of it to knock someone out.”
NEW HAMPSHIRE STATE POLICE FORENSIC LAB
Erickson was the general manager of a private ambulance service audited by MedSafe due to an “irregularly high amount of morphine and fentanyl” (file photo).
He said only small quantities of the drug had been picked up at the border and they did not see its use by the country’s drug detection system, including in police seizures and hospital referrals.
The last time a significant amount of fentanyl was picked up at the border was in 2017, when 1720g was intercepted on arrival from China.
Seizures of 53g and a single gram were made in the same year. Only six grams have since been picked up at the border.
David White / Stuff
Customs intelligence manager Bruce Berry said he did not expect to see an explosion in the New Zealand fentanyl market.
In 2020 and 2021, there was no seizure of the drug. In 2022, only 24 “items”, which would likely be packets of pills, were found, according to the Customs OIA.
National wastewater tests did not measure fentanyl use between October and December 2021.
“The minimal wastewater readings we get are an indication of medicinal use.”
ROSA WOODS / GOOD
Wendy Allison, Managing Director of KnowYourStuffNZ, and Samuel Andrews, Harm Reduction Project Advisor for the NZ Drug Foundation, speak through their drug testing (Video first published August 2019).
Berry said a month of drug testing will be undertaken to try to find out where the fentanyl came from.
“We’ll see if we have a complete problem, we do not think so,” he said.
However, borderline sniffer dogs have not been trained to detect fentanyl themselves, Customs has revealed.
Fentanyl is dangerous to sniff dogs because of its strength, and overseas they are trained to wear masks.
john selkirk
Customs’ Golden Labrador India was not trained to sniff out the opioid fentanyl.
Berry said he does not know enough about Customs ‘dogs’ training to comment on whether their dogs will or can be trained to detect the drug, but he said if they find a common precursor in attacks, the dogs are trained to sniff it.
“Most of the fentanyl we think we’re going to see is an adultery, so we look at the other stuff,” he said.
Customs rather rely on the other tracking infrastructure it has, such as x-rays, physical searches or electronic screening to locate a consignment of pure fentanyl.
“We treat every substance as fentanyl from the moment we identify it.”
Not-For-Syndication
Bruce Berry explains the method of drug interception at the New Zealand border.
Detecting it is also the job of the entire drug alert system, including police and health.
“With the screening we are doing, we should see the wave coming, we are ready for it, the ambulances and first responders are actively carrying naloxone,” he said.
Berry said Fentanyl has two main uses: as a drug “adulterator”, or cutting agent, or by methamphetamine users who use it to try to counteract side effects of meth use.
“At the moment, the population base and use of these goods [fentanyl] is minimal, we do not see we currently have a problem.
“We do not fully expect to see an explosion here,” he said.
Supply
Fentanyl test strips can be used to identify the drug.
“I think you will find that there will be quite a quick and strict law enforcement response to protect the community,” he said.
Berry said just because a drug was detected at the New Zealand border does not mean it is intended for the New Zealand market. A 780kg cocaine bust in March in Tauranga would have met the country’s cocaine supply for more than a year.