In a revealing interview, retired California Sergeant and Narcotics Detective Keith Graves exposes the systematic dismantling of drug enforcement policies, drug trends, and the devastating consequences of so-called “progressive” drug policies. With 30 years of frontline experience in the San Francisco Bay area, Graves provides a sobering account of how harm reduction, decriminalisation, and drug liberalisation policies have transformed once-beautiful communities into zones of chaos and despair.

The Playbook Revealed

Graves exposes a deliberate strategy employed by drug liberalisation advocates, describing how the movement operates with calculated precision. “We’re going to legalise drugs on the backs of sick people,” he recalls hearing at a college forum in the 1990s, “and after we do that, we’re going to legalise all drugs.”

This playbook follows a predictable pattern:

• Medical cannabis as the gateway policy – using compassionate cases to normalise drug use
• Recreational legalisation follows – capitalising on normalised attitudes
• Expansion to all substances – the ultimate goal of total decriminalisation

The strategy proves remarkably consistent across jurisdictions, with advocates deliberately targeting emotional appeals whilst concealing their broader agenda.

The Harm Reduction Myth

Graves systematically dismantles the fundamental premise of harm reduction, calling it “absolutely insane” and “crazy talk.” The policy framework, widely implemented across California, Oregon, and Washington, provides drug users with:

• Clean needles and injection implements
• Crack pipes and methamphetamine pipes
• Safe consumption sites
• Pure drug testing to ensure “quality”

“What they’re saying is we want to make sure that they get pure heroin, not heroin diluted with fentanyl,” Graves explains, highlighting the absurdity of government-enabled drug consumption.

The promised benefits of harm reduction have failed to materialise. Instead of reducing drug use and associated harms, these policies have:

• Normalised and enabled drug consumption
• Created open-air drug markets
• Increased homelessness and public disorder
• Failed to reduce overdose deaths
• Destroyed community safety

Drug Trends & Decriminalisation: A Failed Experiment

California’s experience with decriminalisation provides a stark warning for other jurisdictions. When possession charges were reduced from felonies to misdemeanours, law enforcement lost all meaningful tools for intervention.

“By making it a misdemeanour, we had to sight release them – we had to give them a ticket basically,” Graves explains. “You had meth, you had fentanyl, whatever – we’d give you a ticket and send you on your way.”

The results speak for themselves:

• No deterrent effect – minimal penalties provide no incentive to change behaviour
• Wasted police resources – officers process the same individuals repeatedly
• No pathway to treatment – voluntary programmes see minimal uptake
• Community deterioration – public spaces become unusable

The Cartel Connection: New Zealand Under Threat

Graves warns that Mexican cartels, specifically the Sinaloa Cartel, have already established operations in New Zealand. Despite initial scepticism from local authorities, cartel presence was confirmed within weeks of his warning during a 2015 visit to Queenstown.

“You have Sinaloa cartel in New Zealand,” he warned officials, only to be dismissed with responses like “Hey mate, you’re overcooking it.” The subsequent discovery of cartel operations vindicated his concerns.

Emerging Drug Threats

The cartels are introducing dangerous new substances to the New Zealand market:

Fentanyl Analogues: Various forms of synthetic opioids causing unexplained overdose deaths, often disguised as other drugs.

Pink Cocaine: Despite its name, contains no cocaine. This pink powder typically contains:

• Ketamine
• 2C-B (synthetic psychedelic)
• Sometimes fentanyl
• Variable and unpredictable combinations

“When you see this pink stuff, it’s not what you think – you could overdose and die from it,” Graves warns, noting that the substance has already been seized in Australia.

The Enforcement Solution

Contrary to popular narratives about being unable to “arrest our way out” of drug problems, Graves demonstrates that enforcement works when properly implemented. His experience shows:

Successful Intervention Through Arrest

• 90-day minimum sentences provided time for detoxification
• Users frequently thanked officers for arrests that saved their lives
• Records could be expunged after five years of clean living
• Forced intervention where voluntary treatment fails

“I would arrest people for being high, put them in jail… People would come out and they would come and thank me saying ‘Thank you for arresting me, I was able to get off drugs,'” Graves recounts.

Community-Driven Enforcement

Users themselves often requested law enforcement intervention:

• Calls from inmates asking officers to arrest their dealers
• Recognition that “rock bottom” in jail provided the only opportunity for recovery
• Thank you calls from family members whose loved ones received help through arrest

Idaho’s Drug Trends: The Control Group

Graves now resides in Idaho, “the last state in America where we can still arrest people for smoking a joint.” The contrast with California is striking:

• No pervasive cannabis odour in public spaces
• Minimal homeless populations
• Maintained community safety
• Successful resistance to liberalisation pressure

This real-world comparison demonstrates that strong enforcement policies can maintain community standards and public safety.

Protecting Children: A Parent’s Responsibility

Graves advocates for direct, uncompromising education about drugs, sharing his successful approach with his own children:

Educational Strategy

• Take children to areas affected by drug use – show real consequences
• Interview drug users – let them hear firsthand how addiction begins
• Provide complete information – no sanitised or partial truths
• Establish clear consequences – make drug use “the unforgivable sin”

Results

Both of Graves’ adult children (ages 29 and 25) remain drug-free, with one reporting nightmares about disappointing his father even as an adult. “The best thing is now my son is 29, he said ‘Dad, I had a nightmare last night that you caught me with some cannabis,’ “ demonstrating the lasting impact of clear boundaries.

Churches Role

Churches represent untapped potential in drug prevention efforts, but many remain reluctant to engage:

Missed Opportunities

• Large congregations with regular family contact
• Children’s ministries providing ideal educational platforms
• Biblical foundations for opposing drug use
• Built-in accountability networks

Institutional Resistance

Despite offering to provide education, Graves reports that even large churches (5,000+ members) decline involvement, viewing drug education as “politics” rather than pastoral care.

“They don’t want to be involved in politics,” he explains, noting how this reluctance leaves children vulnerable to harmful influences.

The Cost of Failure

The human cost of failed drug policies extends far beyond individual users:

• Family Displacement: Graves’ own family exemplifies the broader exodus from California: “My family had been in California since 1850… nobody’s there anymore. They all left because there’s so much homeless, there’s so much drugs, there’s so much disorder.”
• Community Deterioration: Once-safe areas have become dangerous: “I bring my kids down there and we go for a walk down the worst part… ‘This is drug use right here.'”
• Professional Disillusionment: Even successful law enforcement professionals question their impact: “When I look back working as a narc… I felt like I did nothing.”

New Zealand & Australia at the Crossroads

Graves identifies New Zealand as “the last foxhole” – a final stand against global drug liberalisation trends. The country’s narrow defeat of cannabis legalisation (48-51%) provides only temporary protection.

Warning Signs:

• Medical cannabis already legalised – providing the “foot in the door”
• Only 2% swing needed for recreational legalisation
• Ongoing normalisation efforts making future votes easier
• Visible deterioration in urban areas like Auckland’s CBD

“If New Zealand falls, where’s everybody else going to go?” Graves asks, emphasising the global significance of New Zealand’s policy choices.

Drug Trends: A Call for Courage

Keith Graves’ decades of experience provide an unvarnished look at the devastating consequences of harm reduction and decriminalisation policies. His message is clear: these approaches don’t reduce harm – they enable and perpetuate it.

The evidence from California, Oregon, and Washington demonstrates that:

• Harm reduction policies increase drug use and associated problems
• Decriminalisation removes necessary intervention tools
• Enforcement, when properly implemented, saves lives and communities
• Strong laws and clear consequences protect families and children

For New Zealand and other jurisdictions considering similar policies, Graves offers a stark warning: look at the results, not the rhetoric. Walk through San Francisco, Oakland, or Portland. Ask yourself if you feel safe. Consider whether these outcomes represent the society you want for your children.

The choice is clear: continue down the path of permissive policies and accept the inevitable consequences, or fight to maintain the laws and standards that protect communities and families. As Graves emphasises, “You’re the last bastion… there’s nowhere else to go.”

The time for half-measures and compromise has passed. The evidence is in, the experiment has failed, and the cost of continuing current policies will be measured in destroyed lives and communities. New Zealand, and other nations watching this global trend, must choose: enable destruction through misguided compassion, or protect their people through principled enforcement.

Source: YouTube