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Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill Government Bill As reported from the Health Committee Commentary Recommendation The Health Committee has examined the Misuse of Drugs Amend- ment Bill and recommends that it be passed with the amendment shown.
Introduction This bill would amend the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 in order to • reclassify ephedrine and pseudoephedrine as Class B2 con- trolled drugs, and establish the quantity for presumption of supply at 10 grams remove thalidomide’s classification as a Class A controlled drug allow hazardous substances to also be classified as restricted substances extend the definition of amphetamine analogues allow notices to be issued in the Gazette to extend the controls over drug paraphernalia.
• • • • We were advised that Professor Sir Peter Gluckman wrote that the value of the methamphetamine “market” in New Zealand was esti- 126—2 2 Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill Commentary mated by the National Drug Intelligence Bureau in 2007 to be about 1 billion dollars (about 1,000 kg of drug) per annum.
At least 10 per- cent of this is derived from domestically diverted pseudoephedrine (although there are indications that this may be a significant underes- timate), the remainder from illegal imports of pseudoephedrine and of methamphetamine itself.

There is some evidence that import- ation of pseudoephedrine is increasing relative to that of metham- phetamine.1 Drug utensils We recommend a minor amendment to new section 22(3)(b), as in- serted by clause 4 of the bill.
This amendment would ensure that all of the references to utensils were worded consistently.

We were advised by the New Zealand Police that amending section 22 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 to enable notices to be made to prohibit the advertisement or display of drug utensils, and to pro- hibit the importation of incomplete utensils and identifiable parts of these utensils, will make the enforcement of drug laws clearer and would remove loopholes that are currently being exploited.
Broad- ening the scope of section 22 will allow Police to more effectively deter the sale of drug utensils by removing the limitation that an of- fence occurs once a sale has been made.

Police also understand that this amendment will remove the difficulties that the Customs Service has with restricting the importation of incomplete drug utensils and identifiable parts.
Making it an offence to sell, supply, and import utensils would assist the anti-drug effort by ensuring that the public is receiving a consistent message about the unacceptability of illegal drugs.

Submissions Most of the submissions we received expressed opposition to the pro- posed amendment to the utensils provision.
Many argued that pro- hibiting drug utensils would be ineffective and would increase the harm suffered by drug users because they would make their own 1 Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, Consideration of reduction of access to, or elimination of, pseudoephedrine in “cold and flu” preparations, Office of the Prime Minister’s Science Advisory Committee, 2009.

Commentary Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill 3 utensils or would buy them illegally.
It was also claimed that the importation of utensils would become clandestine, so that the New Zealand Customs Service would no longer know who the importers were.

Other submitters told us that research from the United States indi- cates that the effect of methamphetamine precursor regulation on its own is temporary.

The rates of hospital admissions and arrests decreased initially, and then rebounded in the months and years after regulation took effect.
We note and acknowledge the views expressed by submitters, but recommend no further changes to the bill.

New Zealand Labour Party minority view We believe that the bill would do no harm; we remain concerned that the bill as written would not achieve the aims of reducing the availability of methamphetamine or reducing drug-related harm.

We question the merit of placing further restrictions on drug utensils when an evidence base for doing so has not been established.
We note that the Ministry of Health has not been able to quantify the financial impact either on consumers or on the Government of requir- ing patients to acquire a GP prescription for medication containing pseudoephedrine.

We also question the validity of passing an amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act while the Law Commission is carrying out a wide-rang- ing review of that Act.

Government practice has been to suspend or oppose legislative change while a larger review is under way.
Ex- amples include legislation that deals with the Sale and Supply of Al- cohol, Tobacco Control, and Responsible Lending.

Passing this bill seems at odds with the Government’s usual practice.

Green Party minority view The Green Party has a view that differs from the majority of commit- tee members in two respects.
4 Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill Commentary • Clause 4 Power of Minister to Prohibit Importation etc, of controlled drugs This clause increases the range of actions in relation to utensils that are offences, and extends the range of items in relation to which of- fences exist to include identifiable components of pipes and other utensils.

The committee received no evidence whatsoever that the changes that this clause would bring about would reduce drug use even slightly.
Instead we received many submissions to the effect that • • the new provisions relating to utensils will not reduce drug use.

the utensils provisions may prove a minor inconvenience to those importing and selling them but they are likely to respond with small changes of behaviour to evade the law.

the utensils provisions are likely to be applied unevenly based on assumptions about intent.
For example, we were shown a plumbing fitting that could be used either as a household plumbing item or as a component of a drug utensil.

This poten- tial for the same behaviour to be both legal or illegal depending on who does it suggests strongly that the law has been miscast.

utensils such as pipes are typically used to reduce the harm as- sociated with using smoked drugs.

Any reduction achieved in utensil use will increase the harm associated with drug-taking.
In summary the proposed provisions seem unlikely to achieve any- thing useful and, indeed, are somewhat likely to increase harm as- sociated with drug-taking.

They seem like an unhelpful distraction from the central purpose of reducing drug-related harm, and seem particularly inappropriate given the current review of the Misuse of Drugs Act by the Law Commission and the absence of any argument for urgency.
• Clause 6 Schedule 2 amended The effect of this clause is to reclassify ephedrine and pseu- doephedrine as Class B2 controlled substances.

This would mean that medicines containing these substances could only be supplied with a prescription from a doctor.

The purpose of this measure is make it more difficult for these substances to be accessed for the manufacture of methamphetamine.
Commentary Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill 5 There seems no reason to oppose this course of action for ephedrine, which we were told has no therapeutic value.

On the other hand pseudoephedrine is widely used and has therapeutic value for many people.

The committee asked for, but could not be given, any evi- dence of the extent to which pseudoephedrine purchased from re- tail pharmacies has been used for methamphetamine manufacture.

Nonetheless the Green Party does accept that this does play some role.
However, we are persuaded by the evidence received from the Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand, the organisation represent- ing the professional interests of pharmacists.

The Pharmaceutical Society told us that alternatives to pseu- doephedrine were not as effective, leaving many people needing to visit a general practitioner for a prescription for symptomatic relief, exposing them and others to the risk of further infection and imposing an unwelcome increase in workload for general practices.
The Pharmaceutical Society offered several alternatives to this approach, which would stop pseudoephedrine-containing medicines from being available over the counter, but nonetheless have them available from pharmacies without the need for a prescription.

They also told us about pharmacy systems to detect and report inappro- priate purchase of such medicines.
To believe that prescriptions should be necessary for pseudoephedrine to be dispensed relies on an assumption that general practitioners will be more able or inclined to detect drug-seeking behaviour than are pharmacists.

The committee heard no evidence that this is the case.

In summary we accept that there is a benefit, albeit unquantified, from restricting the supply of medicines containing pseudoephedrine.
However we believe that the method of restriction proposed in the bill is not necessary and has significant inconvenience and cost for many people.

6 Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill Commentary Appendix Committee process The Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill was referred to the committee on 24 August 2010.

The closing date for submissions was 29 Sep- tember 2010.

We received and considered 65 submissions from inter- ested groups and individuals and heard evidence from seven of them.
We also received and considered 775 form submissions.

We received advice from the Ministry of Health.
Committee membership Dr Paul Hutchison (Chairperson) Dr Jackie Blue Hon Ruth Dyson Kevin Hague Iain Lees-Galloway Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban (until 13 October 2010) Hon Damien O’Connor (from 13 October 2010) Eric Roy Nicky Wagner Michael Woodhouse Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill Key to symbols used in reprinted bill As reported from a select committee text inserted unanimously Hon Peter Dunne Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill Government Bill Contents Title Commencement Principal Act amended Part 1 Amendments to principal Act and consequential amendments to other enactments Amendments to principal Act Powers of Minister to prohibit importation, etc, of controlled drugs Schedule 1 amended Schedule 2 amended Schedule 3 amended Schedule 4 amended Schedule 5 amended Consequential amendments to other enactments Land Transport Act 1998 consequentially amended Customs and Excise Act 1996 consequentially amended Part 2 Amendment to Misuse of Drugs Amendment Act 2005 Misuse of Drugs Amendment Act 2005 amended Interpretation 126—2 Page 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 1 cl 1 Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill Schedule Items added to clause 1 of Schedule 5 5 The Parliament of New Zealand enacts as follows: 1 2 (1) (2) 3 4 (1) Title This Act is the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Act 2010.
Commencement Sections 6, 7(1) and (2), 8, and 9 come into force on 1 March 2011.

The rest of this Act comes into force on the day after the date on which it receives the Royal assent.

5 Principal Act amended This Act amends the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975.
Part 1 Amendments to principal Act and consequential amendments to other enactments Amendments to principal Act Powers of Minister to prohibit importation, etc, of controlled drugs Section 22(1A) is amended by— (a) omitting “import or supply” and substituting “import- ation, supply, possession for the purpose of sale or sup- ply, or offering for sale”; and omitting “pipe or other utensil” and substituting “pipe, other utensil, or identifiable component of a pipe or other utensil”.
(b) 10 15 20 (2) Section 22 is amended by repealing subsection (3) and substi- tuting the following subsection: 25 “(3) Every person commits an offence against this Act who— 2 Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill Part 1 cl 7 “(a) “(b) “(c) supplies, possesses for the purpose of sale or supply, or offers for sale a pipe, other utensil, or identifiable com- ponent of a pipe or other utensil whose sale, possession for the purpose of sale or supply, or offering for sale (as the case may be) is absolutely prohibited by a notice is- 5 sued under subsection (1A); or supplies, possesses for the purpose of sale or supply, or offers for sale a pipe, other utensil, or identifiable component of a pipe or other utensil otherwise than in accordance with any condition under which that pipe, 10 other utensil, or identifiable component of a pipe or other utensil may, under a notice issued under subsec- tion (1A), be supplied, possessed for the purpose of sale or supply, or offered for sale (as the case may be); or imports a pipe, other utensil, or identifiable component 15 of a pipe or other utensil otherwise than in accordance with any condition under which that pipe, other uten- sil, or identifiable component of a pipe or other utensil may, under a notice issued under subsection (1A), be imported.” 20 Schedule 1 amended The item relating to thalidomide in clause 1 of Schedule 1 is omitted.
Schedule 2 amended Clause 1 of Part 2 of Schedule 2 is amended by inserting the 25 following items in their appropriate alphabetical order: “Ephedrine “Pseudoephedrine”.

Schedule 3 amended Part 3 of Schedule 3 is amended by repealing clause 6.

The items relating to ephedrine and pseudoephedrine in clause 1 of Part 5 of Schedule 3 are omitted.

Paragraph (d) of the item relating to amphetamine analogues in Part 7 of Schedule 3 is amended by inserting “and/or alkylthio radicals” after “alkylamino radicals”.
30 35 3 5 6 7 (1) (2) (3) Part 1 cl 8 Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill 8 9 10 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 11 (1) (2) Schedule 4 amended The items relating to ephedrine and pseudoephedrine in clause 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 4 are omitted.

Schedule 5 amended Clause 1 of Schedule 5 is amended by adding the items set out 5 in the Schedule of this Act.

Consequential amendments to other enactments Land Transport Act 1998 consequentially amended This section amends the Land Transport Act 1998.
Paragraph (a)(i) of the definition of qualifying drug in section 10 2(1) is amended by omitting “(except thalidomide)”.

Section 58(1)(b) is amended by omitting “(except thalido- mide)”.

Section 61(2)(b) is amended by omitting “(except thalido- mide)”.

Section 62(1)(b) is amended by omitting “(except thalido- mide)”.

15 Customs and Excise Act 1996 consequentially amended This section amends the Customs and Excise Act 1996.
Schedule 1 is amended by omitting “pipe or other utensil” and 20 substituting “pipe, other utensil, or identifiable component of a pipe or other utensil”.

Part 2 Amendment to Misuse of Drugs Amendment Act 2005 25 12 Misuse of Drugs Amendment Act 2005 amended This Part amends the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Act 2005.

Interpretation Paragraph (b)(v) of the definition of substance in section 31 is repealed.
30 13 4 Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill Schedule Items added to clause 1 of Schedule 5 s 9 Ephedrine Pseudoephedrine 10 grams, whether or not contained in a sub- stance, preparation, or mixture 10 grams, whether or not contained in a sub- stance, preparation, or mixture Legislative history 22 April 2010 24 August 2010 Introduction (Bill 126–1) First reading and referral to Health Committee 12 Published under the authority of the House of Representatives—2010 Wellington, New Zealand: 5