Trends of clandestine laboratories manufacturing methamphetamine in New Zealand between 2009-2021: Evolution, enforcement, legislative, and COVID-19 effects.

The most common method of domestic methamphetamine manufacture encountered in New Zealand is the hydrogen iodide (HI) reduction of pseudoephedrine/ephedrine. While the overall method used to manufacture methamphetamine has remained consistent, the processes and chemicals utilized have evolved. Understanding the reason for any changes to methamphetamine manufacturing trends can assist jurisdictions with predicting the potential effects of enforcement and legislative initiatives. This paper presents data and trends amassed from suspected clandestine laboratories, associated with the manufacture of methamphetamine, in New Zealand between 2009 and 2021, along with data on methamphetamine, pseudoephedrine, and ephedrine seizures at the border. The data have shown that clandestine manufacturers in New Zealand have evolved the methamphetamine manufacturing process over the years. These changes in trends can largely be attributed to various enforcement and legislative effects and the COVID-19 pandemic response. Effects that enforcement, legislation, and the COVID-19 pandemic response may have had on the precursors, chemicals and equipment encountered are discussed.

Fantasy islands - The emergence of NMP in GBL-containing liquids in New Zealand.

Over the last few years there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of "Fantasy" type drugs seized in New Zealand, with gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) being by far the most prevalent. In 2018, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) was detected in a liquid, along with GBL, for the first time in New Zealand. Since this seizure, the number of seizures containing mixtures of GBL and NMP that have been submitted for analysis by New Zealand authorities have significantly increased, with 82% of submitted samples containing GBL also containing NMP. Analysis of these liquids showed that the majority had GBL and NMP purities of approximately 60-70% and 30-40%, respectively. Subsequent investigations by New Zealand authorities revealed a potential source of these liquids being a diverted legitimate industrial product. The health and psychoactive effects of NMP, along with GBL and NMP mixtures, are unknown. Health statistics in New Zealand have indicated increased harm from GBL use over the last few years.

Taphonomic considerations of a whipworm infection in a mummy from the Dominican Church of the Holy Spirit, Vilnius, Lithuania.

In the present study, the abdominal contents of 10 mummies from beneath the Dominican Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius, Lithuania, were examined for the presence of helminth parasites using standard archaeoparasitological techniques. Of the mummies examined, only one individual presented with evidence of parasitism. This individual was infected with both Trichuris trichiura and Ascaris lumbricoides (5,222 parasite eggs/gram). The conditions of many of the T. trichiura eggs suggest that a fortuitously embedded female whipworm decomposed within the individual's gut to release the eggs, as opposed to the eggs actually being passed by the adult helminth. This study highlights a taphonomic issue unique to mummies by demonstrating the differential preservation of parasite eggs existing in various stages of development. Whenever one is not dealing with parasite eggs that have already been passed by the host, as is the case when analyzing intestinal tissues, one must understand that some types of parasite eggs may not be fully formed. It is imperative, as demonstrated by our findings, that researchers have the knowledge to recognize under-developed intestinal helminth eggs in addition to fully formed intestinal helminth eggs from mummy source materials. Together, these findings demonstrate the persistence of these helminth parasites in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries and represent the first archaeoparasitological evidence from mummies in Vilnius, Lithuania.