Speaking at a business breakfast in Oamaru this week, Detective Sergeant Mike Ryder said P was not the district's principal drug problem, and police would like to keep it that way.
The drug was not freely available in the district.
Education and awareness were the only ways to fight the drug, and people needed to feel comfortable about asking for help, he said.
Pseudoephedrine - an ingredient in methamphetamine - was the drug world's equivalent of cheese, with a 200% rise in price on the black market over the past two years, Det Sgt Ryder said.
Pseudoephedrine-based products were no longer stocked in Oamaru pharmacies.
A few years ago, a group of six "pseudo shopped" throughout the country, buying cold and flu medicines.
Oamaru was the first town in which they were asked for photo identification and they were later apprehended, he said.
Det Sgt Ryder also spoke about the effects of the drug, indicators of use and manufacture as well as the costs to society and the environment of cleaning up labs that had been found.
