When the sun goes down across the Pacific islands, you’ll find locals enjoying a few shells of kava to relax. A few weeks ago over shells at a naky (nakamal – kava bar) in Port Vila, conversation turned to the tsunami of hard drugs washing across the region.

“Two tons at Havannah!” remarks my archaeologist friend.

Back in March 2026 a yacht called Inner Smile capsized at Havannah Harbour on the west coast, a half-hour drive from where we were sitting. Almost two tons of high-grade cocaine were discovered. No doubt destined for Australia — apparently the most lucrative market in the world for Charlie. But all those high-end lawyers, estate agents and assorted bumpers down south will hardly notice a dent, such is the volume being moved.

In the same week came reports of a bungled Australian Federal Police operation involving tons of cocaine from a ship called The Raider previously held by French Polynesian authorities. Despite being tracked it somehow managed to unload its cargo along the east coast after reports suggested communication failures between agencies.

To our west in the Solomon Islands, numerous ‘narco-subs’ from South American cartels have been popping up to surprise villagers.

Our neighbours in the east — Fiji and Tonga — are meanwhile grappling with a serious meth problem as media stories of corrupt cops and struggling communities point to a social crisis unfolding. A major concern is the discovery of local meth labs in Fiji itself, so the trade is not all about import for foreign countries but a developing domestic market as well, small as it is.

This is a new phenomenon. I’ve kept an eye on the drug trade ever since I interviewed the world’s biggest opium warlord, General Khun Sa in Asia’s Golden Triangle back in 1991, when he was responsible for 80% of the world’s heroin.

For many decades drug smugglers used the Pacific islands as a quiet place to offload and secretly store drugs destined for the lucrative Australian and New Zealand markets. They would dribble down one or two kilos at a time via airplane mules or yachts so the occasional bust wouldn’t reveal large quantities. They made a point of never developing a local market in the islands as it might reveal their operations.

Now the increasing competition between Asian mafias trafficking meth and South American cartels supplying coke (and intra-cartel competition, e.g. Mexican versus Colombian cartels) means they are all flooding the region and establishing local markets for hard drugs. This is creating local crime waves, social and health problems in these small island communities. One indicator is the alarming rise in HIV infections in Fiji related to intravenous drug use — a World Health Organisation (WHO) report in 2025 claimed there’s been a twelve-fold increase in HIV infections over the previous seven years and a four-fold increase in drug-related crime.

Compounding the problem is the expulsion of Pacific island gang members from Australia, the US and New Zealand back to their home countries, when many of them have only known urban life, not the islands their parents left to seek a better life. They’ve brought gang culture and drug addiction home to the islands.

Drug raids in Tonga in recent years have shown the problem is not just coming from Asian and South American cartels but Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMCGs), including transnational Hells Angels and Comancheros networks.

Look at the map and you’ll quickly understand why policing the Pacific for drug smuggling is so fraught; most nations are a spread of turquoise archipelagos, with thousands of islands and large maritime Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) which Pacific nations can’t patrol effectively.

Some officials and analysts warn that Pacific nations could even become ‘narco states’ due to the mix of drug importation and local corruption. These tranquil islands are now paying the price for Australia and New Zealand’s insatiable appetite and failed war on drugs.

So far Vanuatu is not experiencing the devastating impacts of local meth addiction which is happening in Fiji and Tonga. It may only be a matter of time, but for now Vanuatu doesn’t seem to have a domestic market or labs created by cartels (maybe we are too small). Its strong kava culture inhibits the desire for other drugs. Fortunately, kava is also cheap, so the locals stick to it — especially as it is so ingrained in the culture.

As our mouths go numb from drinking this natural brew — which acts like ‘liquid valium’ and has been used peacefully for a thousand years across the Pacific — some lament why others want to go all speedy and disrupt our chilled-out islands with narco crime and synthetic highs. A chief from Pentecost Island among us reflects on the unhurried way of life here in Vanuatu and says, “How can you enjoy island time with that other damn stuff?”