Image via allintooceanpoolsinc.org //

According to the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research data, Merewether is where you want to be if you’re looking to score.

The home of Surfest, Ridge Street Takeaway and a puffer vest-to-person ratio that rivals Bondi, the jewel in Newcastle’s crown, our beloved Merewether has once again made headlines again today. The suburb famous for its pristine beaches and housing Newcastle’s wealthiest also saw 268 drug-dealing busts from March 2019 to March 2020, as reported by the Daily Mail.

That whopping number puts Merewether ahead of Melbourne’s CBD (164), Wangaratta (164), with the next highest New South Wales suburb – Mount Druitt (59) – posting comparatively tiny numbers. It follows a trend of regional and rural areas seeing an upturn in offences and charges that will only increase as every Inner-West Sydneysider has the post-COVID realisation that they actually hate the city.

“I suspect a large amount of recreational drug use is increasingly being sourced off social media,” Dr. John Coyne, the head of Strategic Policing and Law Enforcement at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute told the Daily Telegraph – a fact that won’t surprise anyone who’s sat at Blue Door Cafe and seen how much everyone there loves their Instagram.

This follows on from Tuesday’s reports that Merewether High School leavers were being complete fucking gronks on their muck up day (we know MHS in technically in Broadmeadow, but still). So safe to say it hasn’t been the best week for Novocastrians in general.

Image via the Daily Telegraph //