Up to 60 new treatment and social detoxification beds will be made available from the middle of next year to address New Zealand's methamphetamine problem.
Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne said today an additional 18 residential treatment beds are available now, mainly in the Auckland region, to treat people seriously affected by methamphetamine use.
The Ministry of Health will have a further 12 beds and eight social detoxification beds available for treatment in February, and 40 more on July 1.
The additional beds are intended to help people who are already waiting to be treated.
Social detoxification beds allow people to let drug effects wear off, and residential beds are where people can stay to be treated.
Mr Dunne said plans to reclassify methamphetamine precursors as Class B2 controlled drugs had begun.
A Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill, which would change the status of pseudoephedrine will be introduced to Parliament next year, which would change the status of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine to be only available with a doctor's prescription.
People working with methamphetamine users could take advantage of scholarships advertised on the Te Rau Matatini website.
Mr Dunne said though the addiction treatment sector is capable of working with methamphetamine issues, he is keen that expertise is widened and strengthened throughout the sector.
An Alcohol and Drug Addiction Act 1999 review is already under way and will go out for public consultation next year.
NZPA
source: newshub archive
