New Zealand Charity Unknowingly Distributed Meth-Laced Candy
A charity working with people experiencing homelessness in New Zealand called Auckland City Mission revealed that it had unknowingly distributed sweets that contained lethal doses of methamphetamine.
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00:00Importantly the mission only accepts commercially manufactured food for
00:06inclusion in our food parcels and the lollies appeared as such when they were
00:12donated. Early yesterday afternoon we received an alert of concern by a food
00:20parcel recipient who said that they had tried funny tasting lollies and wanted
00:27to let us know and an acknowledgement to that individual for the very good
00:31thing that she did by ringing us and let us know. As a measure of safety because
00:38we have very skilled and able staff concerned themselves about this they
00:45took the lollies still on site to the New Zealand Drug Foundation whom we
00:50have a very good and close working relationship with. Tests confirmed
00:56immediately that the lollies contained and this is very important potentially
01:02lethal levels of methamphetamine. Yesterday as soon as I was alerted of
01:09this reality we began the process of trying to determine both the extent of
01:15numbers of people who may have been involved here and to contact the
01:20possible recipients to inform them of the issue and to give them guidance on
01:25next steps. To the best of information that we have at the moment that that is
01:29a group of people that is somewhere between three to four hundred people
01:34that we began contacting last night. To say that we are devastated is an
01:39absolute understatement. We are totally and utterly reliant on the generosity of
01:45the public to help support people in need and it is at the core of our DNA
01:51which is in service of people remembering that the people who come to
01:55us for food support have no other recourse and at the moment that is one
02:00in five New Zealanders who do not have access to enough money for food. In
02:06terms of our our concern at the moment we are concerned that there are more of
02:10these substances out there. We note that disguising substances as something else
02:17to smuggle it into another area is common internationally so we are not
02:22sure at this stage whether that is just contained within the city mission or
02:26whether people outside of this have these lollies as well. Our investigation
02:32is looking into how these lollies have been circulated and ensure that we can
02:39secure them all at the earliest opportunity to minimise harm. Police will
02:45also be investigating the origin of the methamphetamine and there is a
02:49perception that it has been imported into New Zealand. We are aware of three
02:53people that have sought medical assistance as a result. None are
02:58currently in hospital to the best of my knowledge. A charity worker was taken to
03:05Auckland City Hospital yesterday evening having experienced some symptoms which
03:12would be consistent with consumption of methamphetamine and she reported tasting
03:18the unpleasant tasting lolly. She has since been discharged.