Here's a stat you might not be familiar with: over the past seven years, the price of cannabis, MDMA and methamphetamine has dropped by ten, 26 percent and 36 percent respectively. In that same period, food prices have risen by about 37 percent.
An increase in supply, fueled by increasingly-sophisticated organised crime networks operating here and across the Pacific, has made New Zealand a lucrative untapped market.
And it's not just illicit drugs: black-market tobacco, fraud, and people trafficking are also part of this growing, complex web, which authorities are struggling to get on top of.
It's a story that writer Danyl McLauchlan has explored in detail in the latest edition of The Listener.
He speaks to Emile Donovan.
Photo: Customs NZ
