Five-year-old high on P in drug house

Police found a five-year-old boy high on P during a raid on a drug house where methamphetamine was being cooked in a bedroom.

"He was swearing and literally climbing the walls," said South Island drug chief, Detective Sergeant Greg Murton. "It was extremely bizarre behaviour not ADHD but far worse. He was clearly off his tree. I've never seen a child behave like that before."

Police involved in the July 23 raid think the child had been watching the cook-up in the Christchurch bedroom but Murton says within hours of being taken from his home the child calmed down.

He was one of 29 children, including babies and toddlers, removed from 81 P labs in the first six months of this year.

Children are found in 25% of labs intercepted.

Children from P houses do not go back to their parents at least in the short term. Murton liaises with Child Youth and Family to find them new homes.

"When (parents) are cooking they're addicts or users and they aren't going to stop cooking. Generally, it is the boyfriend who is the cook and often mothers are addicts themselves."

In one South Auckland bust, seven children, including a four-month-old baby, were taken in by CYF.

Being taken from a P house could be a traumatic experience for the children, who were often crying for their mothers, said CYF practice leader Elizabeth Tautali.

"Police pass them to social workers who are dressed in white paper decontamination suits. They are transported in cars lined with protective material to a strange house where the children have a warm soapy bath to decontaminate them from head to toe."

After decontamination the children, babies included, have blood and urine tests to see what toxins are in their bodies. They then stay in CYF care for at least five days until extended family members or foster care are found. "They've been exposed to extremely unpredictable adult behaviour. They don't know what security is. They are taught to keep secrets to protect their parents."

Statistics released to the Sunday Star-Times show a 20% drop in the number of clandestine labs intercepted in the first half of this year police think cooks are selecting more isolated places to cook. Last year 90 children were found to have been exposed to labs in their homes.