Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Robin van der Sanden: 2024 New Zealand Drugs Trends Survey author on the findings of the report
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: So we've got a second lot of findings from a
- 0:01Speaker 1: massive university drug trends survey and they're a bit of
- 0:04Speaker 1: a worry. One in four survey responders report using pharmaceuticals
- 0:08Speaker 1: for recreational use over the past six months. Twenty four
- 0:11Speaker 1: percent report using MDMA and ketamine and other psychedelics for
- 0:15Speaker 1: therapeutic purposes. And from the team the massive University in
- 0:19Speaker 1: New Zealand Drugs research team, I'm joined by doctor Robin
- 0:23Speaker 1: van Dersand and hello Robin, Hi, how are you very good?
- 0:27Speaker 1: So to the pharmaceuticals, First, do we have an illegal
- 0:30Speaker 1: trade in pharmaceuticals and people are sort of selling tramadol
- 0:33Speaker 1: to each other?
- 0:35Speaker 2: Potentially a little bit but also potentially a bit more
- 0:38Speaker 2: boring than that that people are just you know, sharing
- 0:40Speaker 2: these drugs with one another when in need. But there
- 0:44Speaker 2: is definitely also a little bit of sale going on.
- 0:46Speaker 1: So what should we be worried about with the pharmaceuticals.
- 0:50Speaker 2: A big thing is sort of health and safety. I
- 0:52Speaker 2: think you know a lot of people who take these
- 0:55Speaker 2: drugs nor medically might not have gotten the advice of
- 0:58Speaker 2: their doctor. You know, they might also be mixing these
- 1:01Speaker 2: drugs together. For example, with alcohol, which is a big
- 1:05Speaker 2: risk in terms of overdose or poisoning or experiencing harmful effects.
- 1:09Speaker 2: And also we've got as people are buying these drugs
- 1:12Speaker 2: illegally via a drug dealer, then we've got this risk
- 1:16Speaker 2: of them buying counterfeit pharmaceuticals.
- 1:19Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, and meanwhile to the more traditional drugs, the
- 1:23Speaker 1: mtumaze et cetera. You're saying, and you've said in your report,
- 1:26Speaker 1: the world is in the midst of a psychedelic renaissance.
- 1:28Speaker 1: Now what do you mean by that?
- 1:30Speaker 2: Well, it sort of means that we've got a kind
- 1:33Speaker 2: of really renewed interest in psychedelics across different areas of
- 1:39Speaker 2: society and in the medical sector in terms of healthcare.
- 1:44Speaker 2: You know, there's a lot of research on the potential
- 1:47Speaker 2: benefits of psychedelics for a number of mental health benefits
- 1:51Speaker 2: and therapeutic purposes. You've got a lot of cultural coverage
- 1:54Speaker 2: of psychedelics, so it's quite a sort of zeitgeist more
- 1:58Speaker 2: broadly in the culture at them. So that's kind of
- 2:00Speaker 2: what I mean.
- 2:01Speaker 1: By that, and one that we need to take great
- 2:03Speaker 1: care of. And I thank you Robin vanderstanding
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