14-8-2024 (WELLINGTON) New Zealand authorities have issued an urgent public health warning after discovering pineapple-flavoured sweets contaminated with potentially lethal amounts of methamphetamine. The alarming discovery has prompted a frantic race to remove the tainted confectionery from circulation.
The Auckland City Mission, a prominent anti-poverty charity, raised the alarm after uncovering a batch of sweets laced with the highly addictive and illegal narcotic. New Zealand Police have launched a high-priority investigation, emphasising the severe risk to public safety.
Sarah Helm, spokeswoman for the New Zealand Drug Foundation, revealed that tests conducted on an innocuous-looking piece of white candy wrapped in bright yellow packaging indicated the presence of methamphetamine. “The tested sweet contained approximately 3g of meth – hundreds of times greater than the common dose taken by users,” Helm stated. “Swallowing that much methamphetamine is extremely dangerous and could result in death.”
The charity believes that up to 400 individuals may have received the affected sweets in food parcels. Helen Robinson from the Auckland City Mission told reporters, “There is a potential for New Zealand that there is a lethal substance dressed up as a lolly. We have to work on the assumption that this was a kind of batch.”
Robinson disclosed that eight separate families had been affected thus far, although no hospitalisations have been reported. In one alarming instance, a parent unwittingly gave one of the candies to her child, who promptly spat it out. Describing the contaminated sweets, Robinson said she had been informed they tasted “acrid and revolting.”
The tainted confectionery was anonymously donated to the charity in a sealed, branded package before being distributed in food parcels. The discovery came to light when an individual experienced unusual symptoms after tasting one of the sweets and noticed a bitter flavour.
Health experts warn that methamphetamine can cause severe symptoms, including chest pain, racing heart, seizures, delirium, and loss of consciousness. Helm emphasised the gravity of the situation, stating, “You could have only a very small touch or lick of the substance and still be deeply affected.”
While the investigation is ongoing, authorities suspect this may be linked to drug smuggling operations, as it is not uncommon for narcotics to be concealed in food items. “We suspect somebody hasn’t intentionally sought to poison children. It will be up to police to determine,” Helm added in a radio interview.
