Ngawha drug use twice national average | Northland News | Local News in Northland

Ngawha Prison's drug dog Roxy has a sense of smell one thousand times more sensitive than a human's.

That keen nose was responsible for the discovery of a book containing cannabis, sent to the jail.

The Department of Corrections said Roxy had a great day on  Thursday last week, intercepting the carefully disguised parcel of drugs destined for a prisoner.

Roxy and her handler, Chris, were checking incoming mail  when she indicated that a courier package might contain something suspicious.

"The parcel was opened, and found to contain a book and a note for a prisoner," acting Northland Regional Corrections Facility manager Chris Gisler said. "Hidden in the spine of the book was a tightly wrapped package of cannabis."

The package has been given to police.

 The book -  Inca Gold by Clive Cussler - contained a note for the prisoner saying: "Sorry but I'm very fresh but enjoy your reading, K."

Roxy and Chris' other duties include searching contractors and prison visitors and their vehicles for drugs, perimeter searches of the site and searches of prisoner cells.

"For many of the prisoners at Northland, drug use and abuse was a big part of life before coming to prison, and often contributed to their offending, whether they were stealing to support their addiction, or under the influence at the time of their crime," Mr Gisler said.

"For these reasons we work really hard to prevent drugs getting inside. We also look at whether a prisoner would benefit from undertaking a substance abuse programme or time in a drug treatment unit for those prisoners who want to put a stop to the destructive effect that drugs have on their lives."

In the last financial year positive random drug tests on prisoners nationally gave the lowest result since drug tests began in 1998 at 10.5 per cent, showing that the increased focus on preventing drugs entering prison is effective.

But almost 23 per cent of Ngawha Prison inmates given drug tests have tested positive.

Ngawha Prison has had 81 positive tests for drugs in the 2008/2009 financial year - a 25 per cent rise on the previous year - with cannabis seemingly the drug of choice.

Figures released to the Northern Advocate under the Official Information Act show that 353 drugs tests were carried out on prisoners at the Northland Region Corrections Facility - Ngawha Prison - 7km northwest of Kaikohe,  including 143 random tests.

The tests came back with 77 positive for cannabis, two for amphetamines, including methamphetamine, or P, and two for benzodiazepines.

The number of positive tests was  up from the 17.93 per cent of positive drug tests from the 368 carried out in the 2007/2008 year.