The lollies laced with methamphetamine and inadvertently distributed by the Auckland City Mission (ACM) had 300 doses in one lolly alone, according to drug experts.
New Zealand Drug Foundation deputy executive director Ben Birks Ang said the Rinda lolly contained three grams of meth with a street value of about $1000.
He said the common dose of usage was between 10 to 25 milligrams so each lolly had 300 doses, which could be potentially lethal.
“I want to reassure people we’ve got drug checking services around the country where, if anybody is concerned about a substance they have, they can bring it in, it is free, it is legal, it is confidential,” Birks Ang told media.
He said if any member of the public who might have had the lolly was experiencing chest pain, a racing heart, seizures, hypothermia, delirium and loss of consciousness to call 111 immediately.
What happened?
On Tuesday the Auckland City Mission received a call at 2pm from a food parcel recipient who said the lollies were “funny tasting”.
Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson confirmed some of her staff members tried the lollies after receiving the phone call.
They spat out what they also said were bad-tasting lollies and took them to a drug testing centre at 3pm.
After many tests were done, at 3:25 pm the centre contacted High Alert, which issues drug warnings for the National Drug Intelligence Bureau about a sample of concern.
Within an hour of the initial test, the National Poisons Centre, Auckland Hospital and Hato Hone St Johns were contacted.
The mission has since contacted 400 people who might have received the meth candy, with more being contacted today.
“Our immediate concern and priority is the safety of people that we support,” Robinson said.
“In time we will of course conduct an internal investigation to understand if our processes need to change or be improved.”
She said one in five Kiwis did not have enough money to access food, so for this to happen in food parcels that families were reliant on was devastating.
“To say we are devastated is an absolute understatement. We are totally and utterly reliant on the generosity of the public to help support people in need.”
The meth-laced lollies were in a Rinda-branded pineapple lolly packaging in a sealed retail-sized package.
Robinson said the mission only accepted commercially manufactured food in packages.
The mission, the NZ Drug Foundation, and police were not sure how many meth-laced lollies were out there.
The city mission has confirmed a mother gave some lollies to her tamariki but luckily they spat them out.
No one has been hospitalised due to the lollies so far.
An investigation is underway with police treating the matter as a priority given the risk to the public.
Police urge the public to not consume the Rinda brand pineapple lollies if they received them in the food parcel.
If you or anyone else you know has these lollies in your household, police are asking people to call them on 111 and quote file number 240813/5919, so they can retrieve them.