Last updated 15:59, May 1 2018
MAARTEN HOLL/STUFF
Meth use is affecting a growing number of school children, Pat Newman says.
Meth use is affecting a growing number of school children, Pat Newman says.
Rampant methamphetamine use in Northland is having a huge impact on children and resulting in a growing number of 'P babies', a leading principal and national charitable trust say.
Te Tai Tokerau Principals Association President Pat Newman and Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Trust NZ Chief Executive Kate Bundle are calling for more help, awareness and research of the problem.
Newman said he doubts whether there is a single classroom in Northland that hasn't got at least one child suffering the effects of 'P'.
Te Tai Tokerau Principals Association President Pat Newman says communities need to start owning the problem of meth use in Northland.
Some children come to school with no food, they live in houses where meth is manufactured, and witness the violence associated with meth use, he said.
A number of Northland principals have told him they're seeing some children starting school aged five who "we suspect are P babies."
"They're really delayed developmentally; they're still at that one or two-year-old stage".
Bundle said "without a doubt" parents' meth use is having an impact on children.
There is not enough help for children who have been impacted by "teratogenic effects" of methamphetamine, she said.
This is where the fetus is adversely effected by the mother's drug use.
"When you've got a lifestyle where methamphetamine is the drug you're chasing, the likelihood of engaging in other drugs as well which are also known to have a teratogenic effect, the likelihood of them having fetal alcohol syndrome, and being drug babies and being born addicted to drugs is much higher."
Bundle said more help and awareness is needed, as teachers and grandparents struggle to cope.
"The use of meth by parents in the home or manufacturing it in the home with young children around is having an impact.
"They're much more irritable, struggle to concentrate, it impairs development in learning...it's a chaotic lifestyle where there is neglect and abuse and domestic violence and crime. All of those things add up to a recipe for disaster for these children. They don't get a great start in life.
"Fortunately, if they have a loving grandparent who'll keep them safe and put some routine back in their life, that can mitigate some of the effects, but they're still impacted."
Last month Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said gangs responsible for the production of meth should be stripped of their assets and resources following the release of a Massey University drug report which says meth is more easily accessible than cannabis in New Zealand.
Newman, who is also principal at Hora Hora Primary School, said he has personally had children removed from their homes because their parents have been on the drug.
"What I'm hearing is it's easier to get your hands on P up here than marijuana.
"It's not a problem just for the police and schools, it's a problem for the community.
"All these people selling and taking it - they know and their neighbours know.
"They've got to stop hiding it, it's not alright to say it's none of my business...these problems won't go away until the community own the problem."
Newman said there should be more research and funding available to help these children.
"Schools can't handle every social ill dropped on us."