Fiji among Pacific nations hardest hit by meth crisis: Report

Fiji has been identified as one of only three Pacific Island countries facing the region’s most severe methamphetamine crisis, alongside Tonga and Papua New Guinea.

The finding is contained in a new policy paper, Turning the Tide Together, released yesterday by the Pacific Security College and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), a global anti-organised crime think tank.

Lead author Nicholas Thomson said needle-sharing among drug users in Fiji was driving consequences beyond crime.

“While we already see the sharing of needles in Fiji has driven the world’s fastest-growing epidemic of HIV, there is an urgent need for rapid national and sub-regional assessments to better understand patterns of methamphetamine use,” Mr Thomson said.

The paper warned courts and prisons across the region were “struggling to cope with the sheer number of drug-related cases and detainees”, while health systems were being overwhelmed by patients presenting with complex psychoses.

Co-author Virginia Comolli said the Pacific was no longer just a drug transit zone.

“What we are seeing is the transformation of the Pacific from primarily a transit corridor into an increasingly significant consumer market and, in some contexts, a site for local production,” Ms Comolli said.

The paper calls for a Pacific Islands Forum-led regional summit in 2027 to develop a coordinated Regional Synthetic Drugs Strategy — a shared plan among Pacific governments to tackle the drug crisis together.

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