Waikato Business News June/July 2018

44 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS June/July 2018
Methamphetamine is creating New
Zealand’s latest wave of mumpreneurs
If I had to pinpoint an issue that consistently strikes fear deep into
the heart of the everyday New Zealanders, I would immediately
single out the rise and rise of methamphetamine and the long tail
of social destruction that it is leaving in its wake.
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By ANNAH STRETTON
Methamphetamine
has become New
Zealander’s drug of
choice and with that dubious
honour has come all the associated
trimmings; intergenerational
cycles of crime and
violence, highly dysfunctional
social behaviour appearing in
younger and younger New Zealanders
and spiralling levels of
prisoner population growth.
This last point in particular
has caught the attention of the
media in recent times and quite
rightly so because when you
delve deeper into the headline
growth rates you discover that
we are sending women to prison
in record numbers. In fact, the
growth rates for New Zealand’s
female prisoner population has
outstripped that of males by a
country mile. (Department of
Corrections data reveals that
during the last five years the
female prison population has
more than doubled in size while
the male population has only
grown by 19 percent).
And while it’s no comfort
at all, it appears that we are not
alone. All over the world we are
seeing this very same trend play
out with female prison populations
growing by 50 percent
over the last 15 years relative
to male population growth rates
which weigh in at 18 percent.
So, what’s driving this
influx? There is reasonably
unanimous support across
the world for drugs being the
key driver and perhaps not,
as police commissioner Mike
Bush suggested in his recent
briefing to MPs in Parliament,
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being somewhat fuelled by people
chasing after notoriety on
social media.
I decided to put that very
question to a ‘panel’ of RAW
women* who between them
have collectively notched up 50
years behind bars and therefore
are more than qualified to offer
some insight into this societal
challenge. The results made
perfect sense.
Gone are the days
where the women
stay at home and
let the men provide,
it’s all about equality
nowadays and it’s the
same in the criminal
world.
In a nutshell, there seem to
be two clear trends playing out
for women who are immersed
in the underworld. This first
is that the creation and supply
of methamphetamine is a relatively
easy world to infiltrate
and it’s providing many of
these women with an extremely
financially rewarding homebased
business. Who would
have thought that methamphetamine
would create the
next wave of micropreneurs or
mumpreneurs but that’s what
seems to be happening?
Many of these women are
attempting to raise their children
and finance a household
in a world where their legal
options are limited re income
return and/or are too far outside
of their normal to consider. An
opportunity that allows them
to remain at home, generate
immediate and large income
returns and utilises an existing
suite of skills, such as cooking,
therefore suddenly becomes a
very viable way to keep their
household running.
“The art of a meth cook can
be learnt on You Tube and is
a fully transportable process,
Annah Stretton
cooking apparatus is cheap and
can mostly be acquired through
stores like The Warehouse…
there is however a huge level
of skill involved to do this
well, which can take years of
training, something often best
learned off your male cooking
partner...”
The second trend is all about
gender equality. If you thought
this issue was only present in
the corporate world then think
again, because it’s very much
alive and well in the criminal
world too!
“Gone are the days where
the women stay at home and let
the men provide, it’s all about
equality nowadays and it’s the
same in the criminal world.”
says one of the members of the
RAW panel.
“You never used to see a
woman doing a drug deal, it
was always a man’s role. Hell,
today we have women who
even cook the stuff and we’re
starting to see more men taking
a back seat.”
When asked for the reasons
why, the answers coming
back seem to prey on a women’s
sense of loyalty, love and
addictions.
“The [men} aren’t dumb,
they know the consequences
of getting caught! They’re
thinking smarter, they know
most women (especially their
partners) are loyal, they know
they’ll even go as far as taking
the wrap for them and remember
these women have probably
been beaten, even groomed.
This is when the roles
reverse... the women become
the providers, the risk takers,
and the big contributors, in
order to keep the men happy,
feed their own addictions and
in some cases, to make money
to feed and clothe their kids
because morally they think
they’re doing what’s right!!!”
So, what’s the solution?
There’s certainly no silver bullet
but I have no doubt that education
during prison terms and
support upon release is where
we need to channel our energies,
in that they both offer very
real choice and opportunity to
make real change
Imagine if we began to see
the role of prisons as a place of
renewal rather than punishment,
and prison terms an opportunity
to get clean and acquire the
right combination of life, communication
and vocation skills
to enable a new life, and a new
career to become possible to
match the returns and flexibility
of a criminal lifestyle. That’s
the sort social agenda that will
really begin to address recidivist
offending and burgeoning
prison populations.
*To find out more about The
RAW Charity see raw.org.nz
“We don’t just
“We
manage
don’t
your
just
manage
property,
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we protect
property,
your investment.”
we protect
your - David Kneebone, investment.”
General Manager,
Lodge City Rentals
- David Kneebone, General Manager,
Lodge City Rentals
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