In July 2021, Jacinda Ardern gave her support to give $2.7m (that had been seized from criminals as the Proceeds of Crime) to the Mongrel Mob. The money was to be used by the Mongrel Mob (a notorious criminal gang frequently involved in manufacturing and selling methamphetamine) to create a Kahukura methamphetamine rehabilitation programme.1
What Happened?
I was unable to find the methamphetamine rehabilitation programme set up by the Mongrel Mob, which was a little surprising because if I operated a drug ring, a government funded rehab programme would be a great way to network, build and maintain customers while collecting money from the government. Perhaps the funding wasn’t renewed and it closed or perhaps it just wasn’t profitable or maybe it never happened after they got the money? Perhaps someone could drop a comment if they know anything about this?
Analysis
I’m sorry, I’ve been getting lazier and lazier with the analysis recently. Ideally I would see if there was any information about the number of people rehabilitated from the programme along with recidivism statistics, but that’s impossible because I can’t find any info on the programme. Failing that it would be good to show drug stats across the country before and after, however it would be as ridiculous to attribute all drug rehab to this one programme as it would be to give the Proceeds of Crime back to criminals… OK, not quite as ridiculous, but incorrect nonetheless.
The best analysis I can do is say that crime has skyrocketed since Labour gained power. Although it’s probably not solely due to this specific policy, I can tell you as a business owner that available cash is something that is required and directly proportional to the growth of any business - and crime is big business.
Finally, yes, this really did happen. It’s not a joke. Google it.