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In a rare moment of candour, the Minister of Police confessed we are losing the battle against methamphetamines, commonly known as P.  It is a chilling admission, and it’s true.  A South Auckland mayor said if we get rid of P, we will get rid of gangs.  Dead wrong.  P is a relatively new evil, gangs existed well before P became a huge money-spinner for the gangs. 

P can dramatically change behaviour, so many murderous, unbelievable acts of insane violence have been committed under its influence.  One in ten criminals admit to using P in the lead-up to a crime.   National has promised to increase penalties for P use and manufacturing.  These anti-gang policies are predictable, that’s what all opposition parties say before an election.  After an especially dreadful child murder in Napier, National promised to have a referendum on capital punishment.  Just politics as usual.  We are just not serious about gangs.  We tolerate them and think we can use old policy tactics to control them.  Like Generals in World War II using First World War tactics of a Maginot Line against the new mobile tank strategies of the Nazi blitzkrieg, we are being out-flanked, out-thought, and out-fought.  

Civilised society works because it has sanctions on unacceptable behaviour.  Gangs have no sense of shame, it’s the opposite.  Promotion, respect, approval, is based on how staunch members appear.  To get advancement, you need to show gang leaders that you will do prison time, rape, sell drugs, be violent.  We need a co-ordinated Commission that brings together all Government agencies, from the Police to Customs Departments, Corrections, Inland Revenue, Labour and Welfare.  An anti-gang czar should be put in charge who, every day, wakes up and thinks how we can isolate, contain, and exterminate this evil, which is a time-bomb lodged against the heart of our society.  To destroy the perverse pyramid of management and recruitment of gangs where they prey on and recruit young ‘prospects’, we should declare gangs’ membership illegal. 

Why not double prison sentences for proven gang members?  That would stop gang members hanging around courts, and people in court showing no remorse and giving the ‘finger’ to the courts, their victims and the TV cameras.  Their lawyers would be trying to prove their clients were not gang associates.  Inland Revenue sits for months in plush corporate offices to check on tax issues - when’s the last time Inland Revenue, Social Welfare and Employment officers collectively audited gang houses and gang incomes?  They  run the drug business, prostitution, anything that makes money and needs the compliant secrecy of its members.  Every time a gang member registers a car, gets a benefit, travels overseas, we need to know, and then hammer them.   

Some interesting evidence is emerging from the US where P is being beaten back in some states.  In Montana, P usage has almost halved in 3 years.  They acted.   Half the kids in their foster care system were there because their parents abused or neglected them when ‘high’.  A graphic campaign showing rotten teeth, HIV issues, prostitution, a young girl with vacant eyes being pinned to the ground by a faceless man in a dirty shirt, with the message, “15 bucks for sex isn’t normal, but on meths it is.”  Washington State reports some success.  In 2001, 589 P labs were discovered, 76 last year *.   P is just the most lucrative drug for gangs at the moment.  We need to address gangs at their source, and have leaders who are not prepared to accept excuses.  It’s mainly a Maori and Polynesian problem.  There, I’ve said it.  Blaming colonisation for the problem is about as valid as blaming African-American problems on slavery.    Let’s end the excuses, whether it be gangs or gang-related activities such as graffiti.  How about the Children’s Commissioner who said we have to balance the rights of property holders and the rights of the capacity of young villains to express themselves by urban art?  What b...s..t.  

Here’s a story about the modern Good Samaritan.  A person was mugged on the road to Jericho, he lay bleeding in the gutter, an eye hanging out, guts ripped open, arms, and legs broken.  A priest walked by, gave a prayer, excused himself and rushed off to a church service.  A policeman saw the victim but had to go to a family violence seminar.  A politician saw the person, noticed there was no TV present and rushed off to do a talkback show.  Finally, a social worker saw the bleeding man, grasped his hand and sympathetically said, “Good God, whoever did this to you needs help!”  

* Economist, May 3, 2008     

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