New Zealand charity unknowingly distributes sweets containing meth to the homeless
A homeless charity in New Zealand unknowingly distributed sweets filled with a potentially "lethal" dose of meth in its food parcels.
The Auckland City Mission says the sweets were donated by a member of the public and staff at the charity are now contacting up to 400 people who were given the hampers to warn them of the dangers.
The amount of methamphetamine in each sweet is thought to be up to 300 times the level someone would usually take and could be lethal, according to the New Zealand Drug Foundation - a drug checking and policy organisation, which first tested them.
Executive director of the New Zealand Drug Foundation, Sarah Helm, said "A common dose to swallow is between 10-25mg, so this contaminated lolly (sweet) contained up to 300 doses.
"Swallowing that much methamphetamine is extremely dangerous and could result in death."
Three people have so far been treated in hospital after eating the sweets, but have since been discharged.
Ben Birks-Ang, a spokesperson for the foundation, said that disguising drugs as everyday items is a common smuggling tactic and warned that more of the contaminated sweets might have been distributed across New Zealand.
He added the sweets had a street value of NZ $1,000 (£468.96), suggesting that the donation by an unknown individual was likely accidental rather than a deliberate attack.
Helen Robinson of the City Mission said that since Tuesday, eight families, including at least one child, had reported consuming the meth-filled sweets.
The "revolting" taste led most people to spit them out immediately.
The charity’s food bank only accepts commercially produced food in sealed packaging, Robinson said.
The pineapple sweets, labelled with the Malaysian brand Rinda, appeared to meet these criteria when they were donated, arriving in a retail-sized bag.
Auckland City Mission was alerted on Tuesday by a food bank client who reported “funny-tasting” sweet.
Staff tasted some of the remaining sweets and quickly contacted authorities.
One staff member was hospitalised after sampling the sweet, and a child and a young person were also treated in hospital before being discharged.
Robinson added the sweets had been donated within the past six weeks.
It is unclear how many were distributed or how many contained methamphetamine.
Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin said authorities believe the incident was likely due to a failed importation scheme, though the details and scale of the operation are unclear.
Officers have recovered 16 of the contaminated sweets but are unsure how many are still in circulation.
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Methamphetamine is a powerful and highly addictive stimulant that impacts the central nervous system.
It appears as a white, odourless, bitter-tasting powder that easily dissolves in water or alcohol.
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