New Zealand Charity Unknowingly Distributed Meth-Laced Candy

TIME

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.

Transcript

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.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended