{"id":15357,"date":"2019-04-18T18:45:38","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T18:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=15357"},"modified":"2019-07-02T19:18:46","modified_gmt":"2019-07-02T19:18:46","slug":"meth-researcher-thrilled-with-new-prime-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2019\/04\/meth-researcher-thrilled-with-new-prime-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"Meth Researcher Thrilled With New Prime Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"

Waiheke Island lawyer and meth researcher Chloe Barker is thrilled to see Jacinda Ardern, who acted on her findings, become Prime Minister.<\/span><\/p>\n

For her Master’s\u00a0thesis, Barker carried out heart-breaking research on the impacts on children of growing up in methamphetamine laboratories in New Zealand.<\/span><\/p>\n

She found that through contact with contaminated environments, children sometimes\u00a0had levels of meth in their hair, blood and urine that were higher that that of\u00a0addicts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the impacts on children are devastating, the laws are “toothless” and\u00a0often fail\u00a0to protect them, Barker said.<\/span><\/p>\n

After her research findings were published in a police magazine in 2012, Jacinda Ardern contacted her and suggested meeting over coffee.<\/span><\/p>\n

“She was amazingly passionate and obviously really cared about the issue,” Barker said.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Labour list MP at the time, Ardern arranged for broader publication of Barker’s research, helping to raise awareness of the issue.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ardern cited Barker’s research in parliament to support law changes to make it a crime for people to manufacture meth when\u00a0a child is present.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the Sentencing (Protection of Children from Criminal Offending) Amendment Bill never made it into law.<\/span><\/p>\n

Police can prosecute meth manufacturers under general child abuse laws, but the rates of conviction are low, because it is hard to prove children have been intentionally harmed by P [methamphetamine] manufacture, Barker said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ardern\u00a0campaigned for a protocol to be introduced assigning responsibilities to the police and Child, Youth and Family (CYF) when children are found in P labs. New protocols have since been developed.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I was really impressed that she had a million things on her plate, but she cared enough to be proactive\u00a0and make practical changes\u00a0that have assisted the police.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I’m absolutely stoked about Jacinda\u00a0becoming\u00a0the Prime Minister.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I think she’s going to give a voice to a lot of people who don’t have a voice currently,” Barker said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Examining police files, Barker found that\u00a0from 2006 to 2010,\u00a0191 children were living in the presence of methamphetamine laboratories that were shut\u00a0down by police.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2002, children were living in 34 percent of the houses where laboratories were discovered.<\/span><\/p>\n

The dangers of growing up in P laboratories include exposure to toxic chemicals, risks of explosions and fires, and a higher likelihood of having weapons in the house.<\/span><\/p>\n

Children in meth laboratories also face higher risks of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Given everybody can clearly see the dangers to children, there should be a specific law that says if you cook meth in the presence of a child, you’re committing a crime,” Barker said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 39-year-old has returned to her full time job as a commercial lawyer\u00a0after completing her Master of Forensic Science degree at the University of Auckland.<\/span><\/p>\n

Barker said Ardern won’t provide\u00a0a “magic answer” for all life’s ills, but she\u00a0is hopeful children might\u00a0yet get the legal protection from meth exposure that they deserve.<\/span><\/p>\n

“There is obviously a problem with P on Waiheke and I’m sure there are lots of communities around New Zealand that are exactly the same,” she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/www.stuff.co.nz\/national\/politics\/98147222\/meth-researcher-thrilled-with-new-prime-minister<\/a> October 2017<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Waiheke Island lawyer and meth researcher Chloe Barker is thrilled to see Jacinda Ardern, who acted on her findings, become Prime Minister. For her Master’s\u00a0thesis, Barker carried out heart-breaking research on the impacts on children of growing up in methamphetamine laboratories in New Zealand. She found that through contact with contaminated environments, children sometimes\u00a0had levels […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,43,104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drug-use-effects-on-foetus","category-methamphetamine-ghb-hallucinogens-oxycodone","category-political-sector"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15357\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}