Woman's mission to rid shops of meth pipes

A young Whangārei woman concerned about the devastating effects of drugs on her community is on a mission to rid the city's shops of meth pipes.

Jodie Rameka said glass methamphetamine pipes were sold in every $2 shop she had visited - as well as in many vape stores and even dairies.

The 25-year-old's campaign comes as government agencies seem unable to agree whether selling drug utensils is legal, with Police saying there is no specific law prohibiting their sale, while Customs said importing and selling meth pipes is illegal.

Customs said it had seized almost 32,000 drug utensils, including glass pipes, this year alone.

Rameka said the easy availability of meth pipes had bugged her since she was at school.

"I always thought it was strange to see those type of things in $2 shops, because those are places where young people shop. That's where young families go. And just to see those things normalised as well."

She said the pipes were openly displayed, often on shop counters, and sometimes alongside children's toys.

The self-described 'concerned citizen' penned a letter explaining the harm caused by methamphetamine and hand-delivered it to shops in Whangārei's CBD.

Rameka's letter also stated the stores were contributing to Northland's drug problem by supplying users with the tools they needed to continue their addiction.

She said she made sure her letter went to the store owner, not just the assistant who was working that day.

"I asked them if they could either remove those glass pipes from their shelves, or at the very least, if they could not have all the drug paraphernalia displayed out so openly for everyone to see."

None of the shops she visited had signs warning would-be buyers they had to be at least 18 years old, or any information about the harm caused by meth.

Rameka said she printed and laminated her own age restriction signs, and gave them to the shop owners, along with sticky tape for easy display.

She even offered to lend a hand if the shop had to be rearranged to make the pipe cabinets less visible.

She said she was frustrated that more is not being done to combat the meth epidemic.

"We see it, we hear about it, we talk about it, but no one's doing anything about it. And if you look at the stats over the past few years, it's been increasing quite dramatically. More recently, we're actually seeing these things more out in the public, in our playgrounds, in the middle of town."

Rameka said she had seen someone smoking meth at the city bus terminal, in front of children waiting for school buses, and a café owner and barber told her they had spotted people puffing on meth pipes outside their businesses in the past week.

Police and Customs' differing viewpoints

Police told RNZ there is no law banning the sale of glass pipes.

Inspector Dean Robinson, Northland District prevention manager, said the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 made it an offence to be in possession of a pipe for the purpose of using methamphetamine, a class A drug.

However, if a person was to be charged, there needed to be evidence the person had the pipe for smoking drugs, and not some other purpose.

There was no specific offence under the Act for selling drug utensils such as glass pipes.

Robinson said he was aware shops around the country were selling the pipes, including in Northland.

"We are regularly monitoring this situation and continue to take enforcement action around sale and supply of illegal substances within current legislative tools," he said.

When police encountered people with addiction issues, they made sure they were referred to the right services.

That included Northland's ground-breaking Te Ara Oranga programme, which supported people who wanted to recover from addiction.

Customs, however, took a different view on the legality of drug utensils.

Northern inspections manager Anthony Davis said the Misuse of Drugs (Prohibition of Utensils) Notice, last updated by Health Minister David Parker in 2020, made it illegal to import, sell or supply bongs, hash pipes and meth pipes.

He said Customs officers had seized 37,067 drug utensils, including meth pipes, at the border during 2025.

So far this year, the number seized was 31,829.

Davis said Customs had also carried out a number of prosecutions, including of an Auckland couple sentenced last month for importing and selling prohibited weapons and drug utensils.

The Drug Foundation also said the sale of glass pipes, and other drug utensils, was illegal.

Chief executive Sarah Helm said under current law it was a criminal offence to supply, import or offer specified drug utensils for sale.

That included pipes or identifiable components of pipes.

Helm said the law made exemptions allowing needle exchange programmes to offer free needles and syringes, which was an effective way of reducing harm.

"If members of the community are concerned about any drug-related items that might be available for sale, we'd encourage them to take those concerns to their local representatives including the police or local council," she said.

RNZ also contacted the Far North and Whangārei district councils. Both said they had no enforcement powers under the Misuse of Drugs Act, and referred questions to police.

The office of Police Minister Mark Mitchell referred RNZ to Health NZ and Health Minister Simeon Brown, but both have yet to respond.

Northland MPs share concerns

Northland-based Green MP Hūhana Lyndon said meth pipes should not be so easily accessible or visible to children and young people.

She said better funding was needed for proven drug treatment and support programmes such as Te Ara Oranga.

Northland MP Grant McCallum said the proliferation of meth pipes in shops was a worrying sign of demand for the drug.

He applauded police for carrying out major meth busts earlier this month in Auckland and Northland, and urged anyone who knew people dealing the drug to contact police, anonymously if necessary.

"We have to get on top of this. The devastation it does to families and communities is well known."

McCallum said he would talk to his colleagues in government to see what could be done about the selling of drug utensils, and to seek clarification about who was right - Police or Customs - about its legality.

Meanwhile, Jodie Rameka said she would not quit her campaign until shop owners pulled the pipes from their shelves.

"I'm not here to criticise or to tell them how to run their businesses, but at the end of the day, we all have a big part to play in our community and they have the ability to make a positive contribution by deciding not to sell or at the very least, not to display these items so openly."

An RNZ survey in Kaikohe, in the Far North, found one out of three vape stores, two out of three $2 shops, and one in two dairies stocked glass pipes for smoking meth.

In Kerikeri, the pipes were selling in all three $2 shops, a vape store and a combined dairy/vape shop .