'Growing issue': Concerns for Samoa as meth spreads across Pacific

There are grave concerns for Samoa as it succumbs to a tidal wave of methamphetamine spreading across the Pacific, with new lines of drug and gun smuggling opening up. 1News pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver investigates.

Warning: This story contains details which may be distressing to some readers

She asks us to call her Lala – a pseudonym – to keep her safe.

There's a lot on the line as Lala is heavily involved on a number of levels in Samoa's meth trade.

"Its like everywhere, it's flooding the town, kids are taking meth," she tells us.

It's no secret that Samoa's domestic meth trade is rapidly growing.

Transnational crime expert, Associate Professor Jose Sousa-Santos from Canterbury University's Pacific Regional Security Hub has been tracking the markets in the Pacific and estimates that Samoa is where meth ravaged Fiji is just three years ago.

He said the meth market has taken longer to reach Samoa because Samoa hasn't been a strategic point of interest for the cartels and for the criminal syndicates including the Chinese triads. But that's changing.

"What we've seen is since the larger numbers of deportees from the United States, from Australia and from New Zealand coming to Samoa and reaching out to counterparts in Australia, New Zealand and the United States, creating their own lines of drug smuggling," he said.

"That's impacting Samoa and also creating a different landscape an evolving landscape for drugs, for methamphetamines".

It's not just meth.

Earlier this month police destroyed 360 guns mostly from drug raids along with meth.

Lala told 1News "most dealers have guns" and said one person she knows "he got raided once they found a lot of guns, three, four, five".

There's been a raft of arrests over the past year for meth including for ten kilos which came from the United States.

But it's the dark behaviour tied to ice addiction that sets off alarm bells.

Siliniu Lina Chang, President of Samoa Victim Support Group (SVSG), said while the public knows about domestic violence and sexual abuse is "three years ago we felt the difference it just went up and that's because of the drugs".

SVSG has a refuge and at any given time there are around 70 children who stay at the secure location, many of them the victims of sexual and physical violence.

"I have seen a victim due to drugs she was horrifically raped by the biological father, the biological grandfather, the biological brother, the friend of the father and that's because of the drugs".

A number of sources, including Lala, tells us that in exchange for meth, some parents and caregivers are giving children to dealers for sex.

"Parents selling children yes...his own father is selling my son for child prostitution. The worst thing that I've seen is that the (underage) girls get dropped off and the drugs are selling families like the mum, the dad, the sons, the daughters, they're selling it," Lala said.

This is not just a Samoa problem - it's a meth problem and happening in other Pacific countries grappling with ice.

"It leads to desperation by parents and many times it's extended family who takes advantage of the situation and will drop off children, nieces or younger cousins at the dealers for a certain amount of time to ensure that they get their free hit," he said.

Sousa-Santos said there are links with the seasonal workers scheme - as the parents are away, those left in charge of the children or who have access to them betray their trust.

"There is no excuse by government or the traditional power structures not to address these issues, not to be more aggressive and to work with state and that culture or religion is no excuse to let these kinds of behaviour proceed".

Samoa's caretaker Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa said she is worried about the expansion of meth.

"Our capacities to cope are not only on detection but the impacts it's having.. it's a growing issue."