June 26, 2019

Australia and New Zealand have been urged to do more to fight the drug trade across the Pacific and take responsibility for the fact that the demand for drugs in cities such as Sydney and Auckland was having devastating effects on small Pacific nations.

Drug traffickers transport cocaine and methamphetamines through Pacific nations from the US and Latin America to Australia and New Zealand, where drug users pay the highest price per gram (about A$300 or £180) for cocaine and have the highest cocaine use per capita in the world.

While the route has been in use for decades, law enforcement experts told the Guardian that the quantity of drugs trafficked through it has exploded in the last five years.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/26/australia-and-new-zealand-urged-to-step-up-fight-against-pacific-drug-trade