An archive of recent news articles on the topic of alcohol and drugs.
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Beer scooter drink driver nabbed by police
18th August 2011
An Australian man had his driving license suspended for 10 months and was fined after he was caught driving a scooter made of a motorised beer cooler capable of carrying several dozen drinks - after knocking back a few. The unconventional scooter featured a cooler box mounted on a wheeled frame and powered by a 50 cc engine, complete with a steering handlebar. The cooler doubled as a driver's seat and was able to hold up to 48 bottles of beer.
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NZ becomes Kronic dealer to world
17th August 2011
Massive shipments of synthetic cannabis were being flown offshore yesterday as the deadline for the drug becoming illegal approached. Pallets of the compound were being loaded at Auckland International Airport yesterday. The Herald on Sunday understands Canada is one market where the product will be sent. It comes as retailers drop their price to shift as much of the product as possible while others were sending their supplies back in anticipation of the ban, which comes into force next week.
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'Pressure valve' medics patch up night's drunks
17th August 2011
The woman's legs are splayed as she sits slumped in a Blair St doorway. The medics work quickly, lifting the barely responsive drunk on to a stretcher and strapping her in. One of them holds a sick bag in his hand, but it's really too late for that.
A man half-falls out of a bar a couple of doors up, and performs a robot dance through the group of medics. No-one laughs. "Man, have a bit of fun," he mumbles, wandering off.
It's Friday and midnight, witching hour in central Wellington. The pubs in Courtenay Place are full, and revellers spill on to the street.
Many are drunk, most are young.
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Cannabis buried in ship containers
16th August 2011
A man has been charged with cultivating cannabis after police found more than 400 plants in three shipping containers in Whangarei - two of them buried. Detective Sergeant Mike Blowers, head of the Organised Crime Unit, said the discovery would cause a serious dent in the local drug supply because the plants had the potential to produce hundreds of kilograms of cannabis. The plants had a market value of about $1000 each and the find was a result of an anonymous call to the Crimestoppers phone line.
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Police find P lab in four star hotel room
16th August 2011
One of Auckland's newest hotels faces a hefty bill to decontaminate a room which police say was secretly turned into a methamphetamine lab. With just weeks until the Rugby World Cup begins, the four-star Quadrant Hotel must now be cleared by Auckland Council inspectors of possible dangerous toxins before visitors can stay in the room. Near the High Court building and with views of the Waitemata Harbour and Albert Park, the Quadrant has 150 rooms at up to $430 a night.
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Winehouse 'replaced drugs with alcohol' before death
11th August 2011
Amy Winehouse had "replaced drugs with alcohol" prior to her death. The Rehab singer - who was found dead in her home in Camden, north London, on July 23 at the age of 27 - "lost track of days" after drinking herself into oblivion at her flat because she was "bored" and unable to venture outside for fear the paparazzi would stalk her. Kristian Marr, a close friend of the late singer, said: "The problem was that she replaced drugs with alcohol. White wine was her main drink and sometimes she would wake up and drink. It meant she lost track of days - for Amy there was no day or night, no Monday or Friday.
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Ritalin ordeal sparks warning
11th August 2011
White as a sheet and hyperventilating, a Hutt Valley High School pupil was taken to hospital after using a makeshift device to snort Ritalin he had obtained from a classmate, his father says. The incident led to a warning to parents of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder to keep tabs on their medication to prevent the prescription drug being sold at schools. The 15-year-old told his father he obtained the drug through a classmate and had been using it recreationally for some time. This week the father found two empty capsules, a stripped-down pen nib for snorting and a metallic crushing device in his son's room. The father believes the boy was using the drug to stay awake playing Xbox.
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Public puffers under pressure
10th August 2011
It's increasingly rare to see them in our midst but they are there. Huddling out of the rain on a bleak lunchtime, crouched in a doorway or curled over an outdoor cafe table puffing away. Some recoil when approached, ashamed to talk about their habit and horrified at the idea of being photographed and identified as a smoker. Others happily discuss their addiction. Most have smoked since their early teens. All smokers the Herald on Sunday spoke to in central Auckland this week had tried to give up and declared a wish to quit permanently one day. Yes, yes, it's bad for my health, they say. It's expensive.
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US raids net $953m worth of cannabis
10th August 2011
An estimated US$800 million (NZ$953m) worth of marijuana has been seized following a massive raid on land deep in Northern California's pot country, authorities said early today (NZ time). The three-week effort, known as Operation Full Court Press, to purge the Mendocino National Forest of illegal gardens, seized more than 632,000 marijuana plants. The operation also led to 132 people being arrested as 118 were booked on federal and state charges and 14 were detained on immigration violations. Several Mexican-based drug trafficking organizations were behind the illegal grows, Department of Justice spokeswoman Michelle Gregory said.
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Guns seized in $100,000 drug raid
9th August 2011
Children have been discovered alongside loaded firearms in drug-dealing houses across the Wellington region. Police raided 15 properties between Wednesday and Friday in Operation Taipan, shutting down a $100,000 hydroponic cannabis operation in Churton Park and discovering more than a dozen weapons from Wellington, Porirua and Paraparaumu. A stun gun and a loaded Dan Wesson revolver were among the weapons seized and almost a dozen firearms were found "secreted" at a Paraparaumu property, Detective Inspector Darrin Thomson said. Methamphetamine, ecstasy, LSD and cannabis were seized.
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