Guyon Espiner: Wasted
A new documentary about the war on drugs in Aotearoa
coming to RNZ and TVNZ1 on 30 November
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17 November 2022
After half a century of a waging war on drugs, dozens of countries have called a truce. They now view harmful drug use as a health matter, aiming to help people out of addiction, instead of punishing them. In New Zealand, though, we are yet to lay down our arms. With a few exceptions, drug use remains a criminal, rather than a health matter.
Veteran broadcaster and award-winning investigative journalist Guyon Espiner follows up last year's much-talked about alcohol industry documentary Proof with Guyon Espiner: Wasted, asking why the world is passing New Zealand by in changing its approach to drug use.
Guyon Espiner: Wasted premieres on Thursday 30 November at 8:30pm online at rnz.co.nz/wasted and on RNZ's Facebook page and YouTube channel and broadcast TVNZ1. An audio documentary will premiere at 7:30am on Sunday 4 December on RNZ National.
Espiner says there was a huge response to Proof, showing that New Zealanders are ready to talk about our relationship with alcohol and how it is marketed to us.
"I believe the timing is right for us to discuss how Aotearoa has approached the war on drugs - how we tackle drug crime and help people struggling with addiction and also what’s been successful and the changes that are happening around the world.”
In this revealing documentary, Espiner investigates the waste of money, lives and wellbeing that continues to mount as a result and finds there are few signs the punitive approach is really working.
Two tonnes of drugs have been stopped at the border in 2022. Back in the 1990s, it was considered a big deal for Customs to seize a single kilogram.
The human toll, meanwhile, continues to climb. Around $8.5 million a week is spent by people using methamphetamine.
The alternative, an approach being tried with the Te Ara Oranga rehabilitation programme in Northland, has the endorsement of the local police, social services and community leaders.
“What is the benefit of prosecuting them,” asks Whangarei-based Police detective Shane Pilmer, who works on the programme.
“We are better off trying to help them to get off the drug and stop them being a drug user and help them to turn their life around.”
Te Ara Oranga has resulted in a 34 percent drop in criminal offending by those who take part. For some of them, the different approach changed their lives.
Programme participants share their stories alongside revealing interviews with key figures in drug treatment and prevention in Guyon Espiner: Wasted - an unmissable documentary taking stock of New Zealand's approach to the war on drugs.
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Watch the trailer
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Credits
Produced and presented by Guyon Espiner
Filmed and edited by Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Executive producer: Veronica Schmidt
Wasted features
Jolie Leach: Team Leader, Merge Community
Aaryn: Volunteer, Merge Community
Shane Pilmer: NZ Police
Charmaine Parker: Alcohol & Other Drugs Clinician, Te Ara Oranga
Bruce Berry: NZ Customs Intelligence Manager
Mike: Father, Recovered Meth User
Tim McKinnel: Private Investigator
Ben Birks Ang: Deputy Executive Director, NZ Drug Foundation
Sarah Helm: NZ Drug Foundation Executive Director
Rachel Stephen-Smith: Minister for Health, Australian Capital Territory
Blair McDonald: National Drug Intelligence Bureau
Richard Dick: Salvation Army
Annwyn Carter-Kelly: Mother of a child who struggled with addiction
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Guyon Espiner - producer and presenter
Guyon Espiner is an investigative journalist at RNZ, who has more than 25 years’ experience across radio, TV and print. He is a former political editor of TVNZ and a former host of RNZ’s Morning Report. He presented and co-produced The 9th Floor, a podcast and video series of interviews with five former New Zealand prime ministers, which was released as a book in 2017. Guyon has previously been named Best Reporter at both the Voyager Media Awards and the Radio Awards. Guyon Espiner: Wasted is his second documentary, following last year’s Proof, an investigation into drinking culture and the alcohol industry.
Cole Eastham-Farrelly - camera and editor
Cole Eastham-Farrelly is a camera operator-editor at RNZ with more than 15 years’ experience. They have worked in TV news, current affairs features and are also known for their photography, with one bleak but arresting image of a deserted shopping centre carpark shot during New Zealand’s first Covid-19 lockdown becoming the cover of a book on the pandemic. Guyon Espiner: Wasted is Eastham-Farrelly’s fourth documentary. Eastham-Farrelly also worked with Espiner on Proof, shooting and editing the investigation into New Zealand’s drinking culture and alcohol industry, and The 9th Floor, a series of longform interviews with former New Zealand prime ministers. Eastham-Farrelly also shot and edited the 2019 documentary Seven Weeks: Journey to Polyfest.
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Media contact
For a review stream of the documentary, additional images or interview requests, please contact Josie Campbell at josie.campbell@rnz.co.nz.
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