New Zealand’s methamphetamine (or P) problem is like a balloon – stretch it one way and it will bulge in the other, according to specialist group, Methcon.

Banning cold remedy ingredient pseudoephedrine, one suggestion for fighting the problem, was achievable, staging it with prescription-only regulation first, but the “massive” global trade had to be recognised, Methcon Group director and former drug lab detective Mike Sabin said.

“There has to be a marriage between supply and demand reductions.”