Women in Dairying Warned on P Use and Labs
18 May 2011
For most dairy farmers ‘P’ is the phosphate that plays such a vital role in growing grass and making milk.
However farmers are becoming aware of a far more malevolent P that wrecks havoc on farms, families and individuals, one that has nothing to do with good fertiliser.
A keynote speaker at this year’s Network for Women in Dairying Conference in Invercargill will provide an insight to what the use and production of the drug P can mean to dairy farmers.
Drugs educator Mike Sabin spent 12 years in the police force at the front line, dealing with the impact of P, or methamphetamine, in both rural Northland and urban Auckland.
Mike Sabin has plenty of evidence to present on farmers who have either been victims of crime related to P production, whether petty burglaries or major robberies, or who have witnessed staff in freefall as the result of a drug that “wrecks your brain.”
His company, Methcon, provides instruction and training to employers to identify the risks of P use in their workplace, as well as education on P in schools. It also offers specialised training to management to recognise the impact of methamphetamine and manage its risks.
He says producing the drug is not rocket science, does not require great outlay, and is more akin to baking a chocolate cake.
“However unlike P, a chocolate cake will not explode when you mix it up wrong.”
The appeal of producing P in the country is heightened by isolation and empty buildings that lend themselves to becoming P labs.
“The money that people can make producing this drug is enormous, taking $50 worth of cold tablets and selling them as P for thousands.
“It has lured plenty of professional people, from doctors, lawyers and accountants so there is no reason to think farm workers would not be immune from that appeal. Their location makes producing it even more attractive” he says.
His experience in Northland saw him uncover P labs in hay barns, water tanks and old houses. The most significant was in a shipping container a farm manager had buried in the back of the farm.
He likens dairy farms to mini factories that offer plentiful supplies of the raw materials and equipment required to produce methamphetamine.
“You will get farmers who notice their teat spray has been stolen, along with caustic soda and alkalis. These chemicals are all ingredients, and easily got out of a farm dairy, which is difficult to lock up.”
Locking up where possible, keeping eyes and ears open for strange comings and goings are simple, but real solutions to most rural security. He says being observant can also stop more than simple burglaries.
“You may notice water running all night, strange smells, cars coming and going at all hours and lights burning all hours, these are all worth noting because chances are there is some P related activity going on.”
Often burglaries can be related to staff who are using the drug, who know owners’ movements and when they will be out of the premises. Burglary is one way to finance a habit that can cost $1500 a week to maintain.
He hastens to add dairying does not have a major problem with P use, but it is as vulnerable as any other community to its presence.
It is an insidious drug that makes users feel “ten feet tall and bullet proof”, and extremely aggressive when seeking more of it. It has been linked to some of New Zealand’s most horrific crimes and its use is spread throughout all strata of society.
“As employers, dairy farmers need to be aware P use is linked to increases in accidents and injuries.
“Further, drugs are specified as a hazard in the Health and Safety in Employment Act, and employers have a responsibility to take all legal steps to eliminate the risks they present.”
A dairy farm environment with its long hours and physical demands can make employees likely to consider using P to keep them going. Mike Sabin says often strange behaviour among staff can be linked to P use.
“You may notice periods of intense activity, over talking, accompanying dilated pupils and the person appearing very pumped up.
“Once the high wears off, farm bosses may find they have a staff member that sleeps in well over milking time, is often violent or unpredictable, and has long periods of depression.”
Mike Sabin’s message to delegates at the Network for Women in Dairying Conference is not to panic. P use has not overrun rural New Zealand yet, but it requires as much vigilance and commitment in the country as it does in the city centres.
