Hamilton and Helensville have been identified as meth lab hotspots.
Regional trends for clandestine laboratory activity were revealed in a University of Auckland study.
Daniel Exeter and David Newcombe, from the university’s School of Population Health, performed cluster analyses of the data from New Zealand Police between 2004 and 2009, mapping the location of laboratory seizures.
They discovered the majority of methamphetamine laboratories were found in the north of the North Island, within central Auckland and west Auckland, in Hamilton, and areas governed by the Far North Territorial Authorities.
“We found a strong regional variation in the presence of clandestine meth labs in New Zealand,” Exeter said. “There were few reported clandestine meth labs seized in the South Island and 69 percent of seizures were located in the upper North Island.”
The upper half of the North Island, particularly in parts of Auckland, is consistently identified as having a high concentration of clandestine laboratories, even after adjusting for population size, he said.
Four socioeconomic factors had a mild influence on the distribution of clandestine laboratories.
Their research – using 2006 Census data – found areas with a younger median age, lower median income, and rural land-use type were at greater risk for harbouring clandestine laboratories.
“But none of the factors were able to explain the presence of all five of our initial clusters at the census area unit level,” Exeter said.
“The persistence of the Helensville and Hamilton clusters [after adjusting for these four socioeconomic factors] suggests there are other unknown factors influencing the geography of clandestine methamphetamine laboratories in the North Island,” he said.
The research also looked at data from a recent update the 2004-09 data from the New Zealand Police for the 2010-2015 period.
It showed there were 561 clandestine meth lab seizures reported between 2010 and 2015.
The annual count of seizures dropped from 130 in 2010 to 68 in 2015 and the majority of seizures (57 per cent) between 2010 and 2015, occurred at residential addresses.
“This figure included seizures in commercial properties – such as factories – with residential facilities located within that property,” Exeter said.
“This was consistent with the findings from 2004 to 2009.”
Article courtesy of stuff.co.nz
