Southern district wastewater testing highest for MDMA and meth

Sunday, 20 June 2021

Cocaine and fentanyl were detected in wastewater testing in Invercargill for the first time during the last three months of last year.

The results show MDMA use in the southern district was the highest in the country during the three-month period, and the district ranks third for the highest levels of cocaine consumption.

Invercargill was the only place in the country where fentanyl was detected in wastewater testing results between October and December 2020, and the use of cocaine was also detected.

But Southland area commander Inspector Mike Bowman said the two drugs had not turned up in the most recent testing results for the first quarter of 2021, which were yet to be published on the police website.

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“I’m not sure what the reason for that is [the fentanyl and cocaine detections]. It’s one out of the blue, and they haven’t appeared again in the most recent results.’’

Wastewater testing between October and December 2020 showed that of the drugs detected in Invercargill’s southern city’s wastewater, methamphetamine was the most detected drug at 49 per cent, followed closely by MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy at 46 per cent, fentanyl at four per cent and cocaine on one per cent.

Fentanyl is an opioid used as a pain medication, and together with other medications for anaesthesia.

The police website says fentanyl and heroin were rarely detected above the limit of quantification during the three-month period and no patterns of use were apparent.

The results were consistent with other indicators that the opiate user population in New Zealand was very low, it says.

Bowman said the Invercargill test results showed that methamphetamine was more readily available in the city.

“The supply and availability and the cost could be some of the reasons why some drugs are more available than others.’’

On Wednesday, police announced they had seized methamphetamine with a street value of about $20,000, four vehicles, a firearm and about $42,000 in cash following search warrants carried out in Dunedin and Invercargill.

The police website shows Southern, Canterbury and Eastern districts consumed the most MDMA per capita in the October to December 2020 timeframe, when the average national total load was 12.6 kilograms.

The Southern district, along with Tāmaki Makaurau and Wellington had the highest levels of cocaine consumption. The average national weekly consumption of cocaine was 0.5 kilograms, which was less than the same time period in 2019, which had an average of 1.3 kilograms.

The average weekly use of the drugs detected nationally in the three-month time frame had an estimated street value of $8.5 million, the police website says.

Wastewater testing occurs during one week per month, however the frequency of testing varies between sites. Nationwide testing started in November 2018, and current testing sites cover up to 75 per cent of the total New Zealand population.

In the south, wastewater testing for methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, MDMA and fentanyl is carried out at Dunedin’s Tahuna and Green Island wastewater plants, and at treatment plants in Queenstown and Invercargill.

MDMA was the most detected drug in Dunedin and Queenstown tests.

At the Tahuna Plant, MDMA accounted for 81 per cent of drugs detected, methamphetamine was 19 per cent and cocaine and fentanyl were not detected.

Similar results were found at the Green Island plant, where MDMA accounted for 73 per cent of drugs detected, 27 per cent was methamphetamine and there was no cocaine or fentanyl.

Queenstown had the highest use of cocaine of the southern plants that were tested at three per cent, and MDMA was the prominent drug detected there at 83 per cent, with methamphetamine making up the balance at 14 per cent.