Recovery rate of P Addicts only 3-4% ... says Holmes

2010-09-07 08:39:27

                                                                                                                   source TVNZ

On Saturday broadcaster Paul Holmes is hosting a black-tie charity event to raise funds for the fight against methamphetamine. 

For Holmes, this is an issue that cuts close to the bone as his own daughter has had a high-profile struggle with P addiction.  

The charity event is a celebrity roasting in which Holmes is the target. It gives guests the chance to have a go at Holmes or "roast" him on whatever issues they choose.  

It has been years since Holmes has been roasted and he says, "I don't particularly want to be roasted again because it's quite a savage experience as a matter of fact and I'm not particularly good at replying but it's all in a good cause and some of the great old speakers are appearing." 

It is being run by the Steller Trust, a group which has formed in Auckland to try and do something about pure methamphetamine. 

The Trust includes eminent people such as the Reverend of the Holy Trinity in Auckland Ross Bay, Radio Network general manager Bill Francis, Detective Inspector Bruce Good, former headmaster of Auckland Grammar John Graham and Crown Prosecutor Simon Moore. 

Years ago warnings were issued by people saying P was going to be an enormous problem and funding needed to be put into place to stop it.

At the same time funding was reduced by the government for the fight against drugs like P. 

"I think those times have past," says Holmes.

"I think also some of the people working in the industry of drug awareness have got it wrong. We have a policy in New Zealand of harm minimisation, harm reduction where if you go onto a drug advisory website they will show you how to use P safely." 

Increasingly people are questioning this, Holmes says. 

"This might have been fine 10 years ago because basically that policy says drugs are here and we have to deal with them and know how to use them safely but we know now there is no safe use of pure methamphetamine, it is a terrible problem, it is a tragedy for young people, it is a tragedy for families." 

Holmes says the significant thing about the Steller Trust is that it brings together people across different areas that deal with the effects of drug abuse.

The main purpose of the fundraiser Holmes says is to simply create awareness of the problem and make sure that people across the board in our community realise we have something really destructive on our hands. 

He says people just don't know. 

"Unless you have had real experience of a family member who has spiralled downwards because of methamphetamine you don't know the pernicious, evilness of this drug. The way it affects not only the person who is addicted but the family member as well, the brothers, fathers, mothers, it's just awful," Holmes says.  

When asked if he can see the day where methamphetamine is behind his daughter Millie, Holmes says "God I hope so". 

Holmes says in P addiction there is something like a 4-5% recover rate. 

"That's what we are up against and that why we've got to do something." 

He says it is a drug that is across all ages and all parts of society.

 "It takes no prisoners this drug."

Holmes will talk a bit about what he knows about the drug from a personal point of view during the fundraiser on Saturday night.