Source: Radio New Zealand
Australian-born Melanie Rauth was 13 when drugs and alcohol first entered her life after her parents split. RNZ/Rayssa Almeida
A former addict who spent years moving in and out of jail says the only real way out was through specialist courts that treat addiction.
New Ministry of Justice figures show people who completed the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court (AODTC) reoffended far less than similar high-risk offenders in the District Court.
Australian-born Melanie Rauth was 13 when drugs and alcohol first entered her life after her parents split.
At 20, she moved to Aotearoa – and her addiction deepened. She lost custody of her daughter and spent years moving around, fuelling her drug habit and landing in prison multiple times.
“Being in prison did not help me at all to get well,” she said.
“It helped me to build a persona of myself that kept me safe. I learned how to fight, keep my guard up, and get my own way by causing a scene. But it didn’t really help me in the outside world when I tried to recover. All those masks that kept me safe were really hard to strip back.”
With help from her lawyer, the now-38-year-old was referred to the AODTC, a programme that treats addiction as the driver of offending.
“It is not a softer approach. It is a more realistic approach,” she said.
“Because me being a criminal and an addict isn’t who I was meant to be. Peeling those masks off and being who I am today wasn’t easy. I got kicked out of several treatment centres and went back to jail every time.
“Last time I was beating myself up because I didn’t want to be there. But once I went through the drug court and finished The Higher Ground programme, I realised, actually, I can do this. The team constantly reassured me: ‘We believe in you, you got this, we can do this.’ That was really powerful for me.”
Now, Rauth works as a team leader and support worker at Auckland City Mission’s social detox – a path followed by more than 90 percent of Drug Court graduates.
This week, specialists from around the world gathered at the University of Auckland to discuss the results and the future of these courts.
Graduates told the conference that being brought into support roles after finishing the programme was key to staying well.
“It absolutely transformed my life,” Rauth said.
“My daughter said to me yesterday, ‘I used to look down on you, and now you are my biggest inspiration.’ For my daughter to say that to me was really… it just warmed my heart, because that’s what I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve just always wanted to be her mum. I just didn’t know how to get out of that cycle.”
She said expanding the courts nationwide would help break cycles like hers.
“The drug problem in New Zealand is already here, it’s already grown massively, and there are already so many people in jail. And so many of them could benefit from this. Instead of taking from their community, they could be, like me, contributing to it. So why not have more of the courts?”
AODTC: a safety net – addiction expert
Drug Courts began in 2012 in Auckland and Waitākere, expanded to Hamilton in 2021, and remain limited to those three locations – despite two-thirds of prisoners having drug or alcohol problems.
New Ministry of Justice data showed graduates reoffend 50 percent less in their first year than similar offenders, and 20 percent less after four years.
But the government said expansion wasn’t simple: referrals had dropped, courts were expensive to run, and chronic addiction remained difficult to break.
Addiction expert and UK government adviser Professor David Best spoke at the conference.
He said the AOD courts may require more resources to run, but they delivered results traditional courts did not.
“Drug courts are a hugely important potential tipping point in a drug-using career. They create meaningful relationships and provide access to peer support that can break the nexus between drug use and crime.”
Best said the courts offered a positive, incentivised model that helps shape behaviour away from criminality and towards pro-social recovery-based activities.
“But it’s a five-year process over time. In the first year after somebody stops, the likelihood of relapse is between 50 and 70 percent.
“By five years, that drops to about 14 percent, so there has to be continuity of care. No matter how good any intervention is, unless somebody has access to jobs, friends, housing, someone to love, something to do, the chances are that the effects will diminish over time.”
Best rejected the idea that the AOD courts were just an “ambulance at the bottom of the cliff”.
“Prison is the real ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. Drug courts are a safety net not far off the edge of the cliff.
“We know the time between the onset of dependence and actively seeking specialist treatment is typically five years. If we can intervene with drug courts earlier, we are offering opportunity to move the ambulance up the hill, to move it closer to the top of the cliff rather than the bottom.”
Recent wastewater testing shows meth use nationwide has doubled, with growing problems in Auckland and Waikato. Critics say funding should go to frontline treatment – not specialist courts.
But Professor Best said a “one size fits all” model wouldn’t work.
“In terms of effect sizes, the effects for prevention and early intervention are incredibly small. Punitive approaches are highly unsuccessful with this population. What drug courts do is offer a model of managed behaviour change over time.
“They start the process of resolving the chaos of people’s lives, offering them support to make significant, lasting changes. And while they may appear resource intensive and expensive in the short term, the return on investment is huge.”
‘Support after prison is lacking’ – judge
Waitākere District Court Judge Lisa Tremewan said New Zealand still lacked proper support for people after prison.
“In my experience, judges were used to expecting probation officers to deal with addiction issues in offenders,” Tremewan said.
“Judges would sentence people to prison terms with release conditions, or community-based sentences with requirements to undertake assessments, courses, counselling, and treatment. But we would then see people cycling and recycling because the drivers of their offending, namely their addiction, weren’t really being addressed.
“High-risk, high-needs offenders needed a circuit break, and drug courts could be that. They reduce re-offending, save lives, and provide greater safety to the community. The research shows graduates contribute meaningfully to society, sometimes even more than people who haven’t been through recovery.”
Waitākere District Court Judge Lisa Tremewan. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Practical limitations – Ministry of Justice
Courts Minister Nicole McKee said she supported therapeutic approaches but there were no plans for more drug courts.
“I visited the Waitākere Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court and was very impressed with what I saw and heard from those who had been through that system.
“While I’m supportive of the use of therapeutic approaches in the courts to help people with addiction-driven offending, there are practical limitations on expanding the AODT Court.”
She said there were no current plans to establish additional AODT Courts beyond Auckland, Waitākere, and Hamilton.
“The ministry’s analysis of graduates’ reoffending rates is an initial exploration and is anticipated to be refined over time. It is not intended as a full evaluation of the effectiveness of the AODT Courts and does not consider costs or the full set of benefits.
“While the ministry acknowledges the role therapeutic approaches can play in addressing addiction-related offending, there are practical limitations on expanding the AODT Court, for example only a small number of locations would have enough eligible participants, and there are limitations on the availability of suitable treatment,” McKee said.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
