Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Radio New Zealand

The consequences of chronic methamphetamine use are already visible in hospital wards, and it’s about to get worse, an emergency department doctor says.

Dr Paul Quigley told a symposium on reducing drug harm on Monday the country was facing an impending health crisis on par with smoking-related lung disease.

“We are seeing the chronic effects of drug use, that’s often in terms of mental health – so people developing ongoing forms of schizophrenia – [but] we are now seeing the hard effects of long-term methamphetamine use.

“We’re seeing people with cardiomyopathies, heart failure.” Dr Paul Quigley.

Quigley told RNZ methamphetamine was particularly “cardio-toxic”, affecting the heart in two key ways through accelerated ageing and exhaustion.

He said the ageing heart meant heart disease was showing up 10 to 15 years earlier than expected.

“So we’re seeing people in their mid-40s who are regular methamphetamine users having heart attacks as if they’d be in their 60s.”

He said meth also increased people’s heart rate and blood pressure, and sustained use literally “exhausts the heart” resulting in cardiomyopathy (a type of heart failure) and in extreme cases, heart transplants.

Quigley said those most at risk of heart disease weren’t “your weekend warriors”, but almost daily methamphetamine users who’d been using for more than a decade.

He said data showed acute meth use in New Zealand was on the rise and the major concern was the impending burden on the healthcare system and society – a cost already seen in countries where meth use was high.

“You should look at this like smoking. People smoked in the 40s and 50s … then later we had this terrible burden of lung disease from the effects of smoking. And it’s going to be the same.

“If we have increased meth use now, we should be looking at, ‘Well, what’s going to happen in 10 to 15 years time?’

“We’re going to have this much larger population of patients with these heart conditions … and it’s affecting parts of our society that are already struggling,” he said.

“We’ve just got through the smoking crisis – in terms of lung disease is decreasing – but it’s just going to be replaced by this new disease.”

The Reducing Drug Harm in Aotearoa Symposium – hosted by the Public Health and Forensic Science Institute – featured a range of experts from the frontline of festival drug checking and wastewater analysis, to the police’s drug intelligence office and international experts on early warning systems for new and harmful drugs.

National Drug Intelligence Bureau analyst Kylie Collins spoke to current and emerging drug trends in New Zealand, highlighting a spike in meth consumption in July 2024 that almost doubled methamphetamine use nationally – and has continued.

Collins said the vast majority of New Zealand’s supply came from overseas and the increased use had coincided with a drop in price for the drug.

She said alongside increasing seizures of the drug, meth-related hospitalisations had also been on the rise.

“However, many hospitalisations stem from chronic or very heavy use. So with the recent increases in meth consumption we expect to see even bigger increases in hospitalisations in years to come.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The hot start to summer is expected to take a turn, with thunderstorms, hail and even a chance of tornados for the North Island.

MetService said an active low pressure system is expected to move onto central and northern New Zealand during Wednesday and move to the east of the country on Thursday. The system is expected to bring heavy rain with thunderstorms and strong winds.

MetService Meteorologist Devlin Lynden said there is a moderate risk for thunderstorms in the North Island bringing heavy rain, small hail and even a chance of small tornadoes.

Lynden said the conditions were the “right set-up” for small tornados, with tornadoes more likely to form in coastal areas of the North Island.

A look ahead to Wednesday shows several Severe Weather Watches and Warnings in place as a large low pressure system crosses the North Island

Heavy Rain, Strong Winds, and thunderstorms with downpours and hail are all likely for the North Island️ ⛈️ pic.twitter.com/7WiaZhLl3M

— MetService NZ (@MetService) December 1, 2025

MetService has issued several weather warning and watches across the North Island.

Bay of Plenty has been issued an orange heavy rain warning for most of Wednesday, with up to 120mm of rain expected.

A heavy rain watch has been issued for Auckland, Waikato, central North Island, Taranaki, Wairarapa and Wellington for Wednesday.

A strong wind watch has been issued for Northland, Auckland, Wellington, Wairarapa, Taranaki, eastern areas of the Tararua District and Hawke’s Bay for Wednesday.

While the North Island may be in for the brunt of it, the South Island gets its share of rainy weather too.

The upper parts of the South Island may also see a period of heavier rain on Wednesday associated with the low to the north.

The low gradually moves off to the southeast on Wednesday night, and conditions will ease behind it, before starting to clear through Thursday morning, with many places seeing drier weather and some sunshine return.

However, strong to gale southwesterly winds will persist, particularly for Wellington, Wairarapa, Northland and Auckland; they will keep the temperatures capped towards the end of the week.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Tertiary Education Commission has taken the unusual step of giving multiple tertiary institutions permission to enrol extra students this year as they try to meet a boom in enrolments.

The commission’s chief executive, Tim Fowler, told Parliament’s Education and Workforce Select Committee institutions could enrol up to five percent more students than the government had agreed to fund them for.

“We have always set that as the outer boundary marker above which institutions cannot go without our permission, and it has been extremely rare for us to allow institutions to go above that in any year,” he said.

But Fowler said this year it allowed many more institutions to exceed the five percent limit and it would likely do the same next year.

He said an increase in the number of school-leavers had driven enrolments up across the entire tertiary sector, including polytechnics and private tertiary institutions.

But the number of people in workplace learning, such as apprenticeships, had dropped because many employers had less work and had chosen not to employ apprentices, Fowler said.

He said the number of people in work-based training dropped about 15 percent a year for three consecutive years.

Fowler said the government had provided sufficient funding for 99 percent of projected enrolments.

He said university enrolments rose four percent this year and only one of the eight institutions had enrolled fewer students than the commission had agreed to fund it for this year.

“What we’re mostly seeing is them over-delivering against their small budgeted deficits or small budgeted surpluses,” he said.

Fowler said university finances were constrained but only one was rated as “high risk” financially.

“We have two universities low-risk, we’ve got one high, one medium-high, and the rest medium,” he said.

Fowler said universities’ ability to deliver on capital spending was restricted and they were increasingly reliant on income from foreign students.

He said the institutions were generally managed and governed well.

Fowler said for years the commission had encouraged institutions to improve their students’ course and qualification completion rates and those figures were starting to improve.

He said the date for dissolving super-institute Te Pūkenga had been pushed out to the end of March 2027 because next year’s election could make it difficult to take the final steps necessary to wind it up at the end of 2026.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Victoria University will knock down the abandoned Gordon Wilson flats later this month.

The 1950s-era apartment complex has sat unlived in on Wellington’s hills just below Victoria University since 2012 after they stopped being used for social housing because they were deemed to be too unsafe to live in.

The government carved out a section of the law in June so the earthquake-prone abandoned heritage building could be demolished by its owner, Victoria University.

When the changes were revealed senior Cabinet minister Chris Bishop posted a photo to social media which included his face photoshopped onto a man swinging on a wrecking ball with the buildings in the background.

Victoria University has decided it will start demolition of the building and the nearby McLean Flats later this month.

Vice-Chancellor Nic Smith said the university had looked at all options to restore the sites available to them, but stated they were not financially viable.

“The structures suffer from extensive rot, asbestos, seismic issues, and other critical problems that make restoration too costly.”

Smith acknowledged the decision would disappoint some people, but noted the future of the land would provide student accommodation in the future.

“We look forward to working with our community on future plans which will provide the next generations with an outstanding student accommodation and learning experience right next to our Kelburn campus.”

The university’s chief operating officer Tina Wakefield said the work ensuring the safety of the community was the highest priority through the upcoming demolition work.

“There is significant work ahead to ensure that the demolition will be carried out with the utmost care, beginning with site preparation work in the coming weeks.”

“We recognise and understand that demolition work may be disruptive for our neighbours, and we are fully committed to keeping them informed and minimising that impact.”

In October the family of the man the Gordon Wilson flats were named after said they wanted the building to be redeveloped, rather than demolished.

Architecture Centre spokesperson Peter Parkes told RNZ the apartment complex still had value.

His group believed 80 percent of the building’s concrete structure could be retained.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Wellington City Council is installing motion-activated cameras in the Town Belt on Mt Victoria after a spate of vandalism which it says appeared to have targeted mountain bikers.

Over the past few days, the council said logs, stumps and other obstacles had been placed on several mountain bike trails in places where, if hit by a mountain bike rider, they could cause serious injury.

The council’s parks manager Bradley Schroder said timber had also been fastened to trees at a height with the apparent intention of injuring riders.

He said fencing and signage had also been removed mainly around the V, Rockdrop and Shuttlecock tracks. However, he cautioned riders that it should not be taken for granted that other trails have not been vandalised.

Schroder said the police had been notified and cameras would be installed adjacent to the bike trails with the aim of identifying the culprits.

“We are extremely concerned about what’s going on – we’re in touch with the mountain biking community and we’re warning riders to take extra care while using trails on Matairangi/Mt Victoria.”

He said the mountain bike trails on Mt Victoria were designed and heavily-signposted to minimise the risk of riders and other Town Belt users from coming into conflict.

“We know some people in the community don’t like that the Town Belt is a shared space for walkers, runners, riders and other track users but we won’t tolerate people doing things to put other people in harm’s way.”

Schroder urged the public to call the council on 04 499 4444 if they spotted any vandalism or suspected any person of performing vandalism.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The World Health Organization has released its first guidelines on the Ozempic-type drugs, conditionally recommending their use for long-term treatment of obesity.

To tackle what it said was a serious health challenge, its guidelines said Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) medications such as Ozempic or Wegovy could be used by adults as part of a comprehensive approach. That included healthy diets, physical activity and support from health professionals.

Obesity was associated with 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024 and was major driver of diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes, it said.

“Our new guidance recognises that obesity is a chronic disease that can be treated with comprehensive and lifelong care,” WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

The WHO also called for fair access to the drugs and said they should be made affordable for those who needed them.

Peter Shepherd, professor of molecular medicine and pathology at University of Auckland, said obesity affected between 20 percent and 30 percent of the New Zealand population and was major driver of health problems.

He told Morning Report the therapies weren’t without problems, but “nothing else has really worked”.

“Levels of obesity globally have continued to rise despite the best efforts of diet and exercise and behavioural programmes to do otherwise over the years.

“And now we for the first time are seeing a reduction in levels of obesity, in the US of all places, reductions in people eating at fast food, restaurants, etcetera. So these drugs really do work.”

At a cost of $6000 a year in New Zealand, Shepherd said the drugs were out of reach for many people, but the price was likely to fall.

“These drugs are coming off patent as many biosimilars in the pipeline in China already, for example. So in the next few years, we’re going to see these prices come down even more.”

Australia’s medicines regulator has issued a safety warning over the potential risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviours when taking Ozempic-style drugs.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration said people using the medicines should tell their health professional if they experienced new or worsening depression but stressed there was enough evidence to conclude the drugs caused those changes.

Shepherd said there was limited evidence of risk of suicidal thoughts among those taking the drugs.

There were gastric side effects and “more worryingly” people seemed to be losing not just fat but muscle mass.

“Particularly for older people, loss of muscle is not a good idea. So these probably will need to be supplanted by different types of weight loss drugs going forward that don’t have these side effects”.

The drugs were originally designed for type 2 diabetes treatment but became known as a weight loss solution.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand