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The homeless bum, shooting up with a dirty needle in a dark alleyway. The street-walking prostitute, snorting cocaine between each fuck. The old man with blood-shot eyes, staggering along the street and swigging from a bottle in a brown paper bag. Our perceptions of addiction are tainted by stereotypes based on class and race. It’s easier to dismiss the issue if we paint it as a small but unsightly stain on society. But according to the National Committee for Addiction Treatment, 3.5% of New Zealanders suffer from serious drug abuse and addiction each year. That’s more than 150,000 of us. Drug abuse and addiction are New Zealand’s dirty little secrets.
When we think of drug addiction, most of us immediately think of the “Class A” illicit substances we frequently hear about in the media: heroin, cocaine, LSD – all the “big names”. New Zealand media has particularly taken to bombarding the public with reports on “the war on ‘P’”, or methamphetamine; the drug commonly associated with gangs, clan labs and serious crime. Yet although meth is indeed a particularly addictive drug, and although its presence is certainly felt in society, it and other “Class A” drugs lag far behind New Zealand’s three main weaknesses. New Zealand’s drug problem actually lies in nicotine, alcohol, and cannabis. Almost a quarter of us are smokers, and are most likely addicted to nicotine, says the Ministry of Health. According to the Alcohol Advisory Council, Alcoholics Anonymous holds over 400 meetings in New Zealand every week, with another quarter of New Zealanders identifying as binge drinkers. Cannabis is third in terms of drug abuse, with New Zealand having the ninth highest cannabis consumption level in the world, and a small number of these consumers will be suffering from addiction to the drug.
 

Abovetheinfluence.com explains the basic science behind how we become addicted. “All drugs of abuse directly or indirectly target the brain's reward system by flooding the circuit with dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter present in regions of the brain that regulate movement, emotion, cognition, motivation, and feelings of pleasure. The overstimulation of this system, which rewards our natural behaviours, produces the euphoric effects sought by people who abuse drugs and teaches them to repeat the behaviour.” In order for our brains to become over-stimulated, first we must undergo what Doug Sellman, Christchurch-based University of Otago professor and director of the National Addiction Centre described in a New Zealand Listener article as an “addiction apprenticeship”. This involves a pattern of behaviour being established, a pattern in which we constantly misuse and abuse a particular drug, build up tolerance for it and, ultimately, become entirely dependent on it.

 
I spoke with Mark Chignell, Clinical Group Leader of Counselling, and Chrissy Griffiths, Nurse Specialist Health Education and Alcohol, both from Student Health, about drug addiction among students. “We don’t see too many addictions, because they don’t last at university,” explained Mark. “It’s more or less impossible to maintain an academic pass rate and be addicted to drugs.” What they do see is a lot of evidence of drug abuse and misuse, the implications of which are just as serious, as part of that “addiction apprenticeship”. “Sometimes there’s a very fine line between abuse and addiction,” explained Mark. “I often hear ‘I don’t take it everyday, I don’t drink everyday’, but there’s a fine line between that and ‘I have something every second day, or every weekend’”. Chrissy, whose primary focus is alcohol abuse, sees a similar pattern. “You see there is a history of [the person] using alcohol in a way that they are always drunk, wasted, or out of it…they have become dependent on it as a coping strategy. Sometimes, they will express cravings. And that’s when we start to get into the addiction side that becomes unmanageable.”
 

It’s easy to label drug abusers and addicts as “weak” or “stupid”. But the problem does not generally start with the individual. Our society actively encourages people to abuse drugs, through peer pressure, targeted marketing, and an attitude that normalises such behaviour. Mark and Chrissy have observed this in the university setting. “The desire to fit in – it’s huge,” says Mark, “if in order to fit in you have to drink excessively, and take drugs on top of that, you will.” Chrissy concurred; “We’ve got ‘initiations’ here where young people have to drink so many standard drinks and then walk over broken glass. And they do it. Lovely, intelligent people feel pressured to do it.” Chrissy also notes that lower socio-economic groups are more susceptible to drug and alcohol abuse, mainly because their vulnerability is particularly preyed on. “[Companies] make everything accessible, available, and just around the corner. We’ve got fifty liquor outlets in the kilometre density of the university, and this is classified as a lower socio-economic area.” Society is also good at spreading the wrong information – cannabis is “soft”, “common”, “safe”. These are dangerous misconceptions, explains Chrissy. “Today’s cannabis is not ‘soft’. Compared with that of the 1960s and 1970s, it's a much stronger drug. These drugs are not made by pharmacists; they’re not measured out – they put anything in there.”

 
Student Health is always on guard to help to students struggling with drug abuse and misuse, whether they’re aware of it or not. Many students use the service for alcohol and or drug related injuries – Mark noted that, on the Monday after Hyde Street, “a substantial number presented with physical injuries.” If Student Health believes the student may have an abuse problem, they will ask that student layers of questions about their alcohol and drug use, and offer completely non-judgmental support. Chrissy described the process; “If the student acknowledges the issue, they will go through to myself. They get offered five free sessions where we can really work with that issue. We work with a model that looks at goal setting, and lifestyle changes – how to be in touch with their feelings again.” After consultation and assessment, if there is concern that the student is in fact suffering from an addiction, the student will be instead referred to a community provider who specialises in addiction treatment. “There are lots of services and private counsellors,” says Chrissy, “but not enough – our society is thin on the ground of supporting people, really.”

 
Perhaps one of the main obstacles in seeking help for drug abuse or addiction lies in New Zealand’s outdated drug laws. New Zealand’s Misuse of Drugs Act dates back to 1975, and while the Act has remained relatively stagnant, society has dramatically changed. The executive director of the New Zealand Drug Foundation, Ross Bell, discussed this problem on the blog, Pundit. “Drugs have changed, New Zealanders’ appetites for drugs have changed, and our knowledge about the most effective ways to reduce drug harm has advanced.” For those in favour of updating the law, the discourse comes down to this argument – should we be making criminals of people suffering from drug abuse and addiction, or should we be supporting them through drug education and treatment? Many point to the example of Portugal, which in 2001 became the first country in Europe to decriminalise drug possession. The idea was that drug users would trade prison sentences for therapy sessions. Positive results of the law change could be almost immediately observed – HIV infections as a result of sharing needles dropped, and numbers of drug abusers and addicts seeking treatment increased dramatically. If we look at Portugal’s success, it seems that the key to solving New Zealand’s drug problem is not in intimidating and repressive laws, but in openly accepting that drug abuse and addiction is a reality, and in turn, making it ok to seek help.

 
While our drug laws may seem counterproductive in helping drug abusers and addicts, in other ways New Zealand is making a conscious effort, through initiatives such as the Needle Exchange Programme. The Programme, founded in 1987, has 200 outlets around New Zealand under its belt - including special organisations, pharmacies and clinics - that allow injecting drug users to swap their old needles and syringes for new ones. The users do not only receive new, clean needles, but also educational material, advice, and a safe point of contact should they choose to reach out for help. The benefits of the Programme have been remarkable – it is estimated that its activities have played a large part in decreasing needle sharing and subsequently HIV and hepatitis risks among users. Charles Henderson, the national manager of the Programme in 2009, described it as “the most successful needle exchange programme in the world”. It’s all about reducing harm, he said – “Supplying clean needles is as sensible and necessary as making sure motorbike riders wear helmets and people in cars wear seatbelts. We do it because it reduces harm and benefits society as a whole, not just drug users.”
 

Regardless of what is available, there is always going to be a stigma attached to seeking help. “I think it’s embedded in individuals; people think they can manage themselves, or they’ll ‘get over it’”, Chrissy from Student Health suggested. “This is especially true in young, Kiwi guys.” When it comes to drug abuse and addiction, it’s hard to just “get over it”, but, with the right help and support, it’s possible to get above it.
 

Students are urged to remember that you don’t have to be an alcoholic or drug addict to get support. Call Student Health on 0800 479 821, and ask for a consultation with Mark Chignell or Chrissy Griffiths. Alternatively, pop into Student Health at the Corner of Walsh and Albany Streets.