Turner Judy: Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill (No 3) — Referral of S.O.P. 298 to Health Committee 
Turner Judy: Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill (No 3) — Referral of S.O.P. 298 to Health Committee 
[Volume:621;Page:16826] 
JUDY TURNER (United Future) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of United Future to talk on the Supplementary Order Paper that the Hon Jim Anderton wants referred to the Health Committee as part of the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill (No 3) that is already before that committee. I congratulate Mr Anderton. I believe that when we look at his heart on this matter we see that he has taken an interest in an extremely serious situation that is facing young people in New Zealand at present—legal high pills and other substances that are being used to the extreme health detriment of young people. Mr Anderton wants something done. He said that this is a very difficult situation to legislate for but that we must do something. Sitting back and saying that it is too hard is not what we have been voted in to say. 
However United Future has some concerns that I need to outline. We will support this bill going to the select committee because we think the discussion needs to be had. We think that the Supplementary Order Paper provided by Mr Anderton will provide good fodder for deliberations by the select committee. Certainly it will provide a great discussion document for submitters. In my discussions with the Hon Jim Anderton I have ascertained that he is not precious about his suggestion. If the select committee as a result of listening to submitters can improve on what he is suggesting or can find a better way he is more than happy for the Supplementary Order Paper to be sideswiped in favour of a better option. 
My concern is whether what is being proposed is a natural fit into our current misuse of drugs legislation or whether it would fit better into a separate Act—I am not sure whether one exists or whether we would need to create another one. We are really looking at regulating a wide range of products that have risks associated with them when they are used inappropriately. They are products that have a legitimate use in many cases but when used inappropriately have high risks. As one of the National members mentioned a while ago there is such a variety of products—from nail polish through to LPG in canisters by the garden barbeque—that could come under this legislation that it could start to look like a nonsense in one sense. However I accept very very strongly what the Hon Jim Anderton said about even those seemingly insipid products that can be inhaled with minor effects starting young people down a very serious path and that we need to be looking seriously at that. 
I agree with Muriel Newman that we need to be asking some of the bigger questions. We need to be looking at earlier interventions. It is interesting that the expert advisory committee said that more information needed to be assembled on a lot of the substances that we are looking at regulating. It certainly recommended that it was wrong to market benzylpiperazine as a dietary supplement—that it did not fit into that category and that it was a very dangerous label to have on it. There was certainly strong evidence that some of those substances create adverse reactions on their own. The other problem—and this is another reason why I do not think this particular Supplementary Order Paper will end up fitting well into the misuse of drugs legislation—is that some of those products are not on their own a high risk but when one combines them with alcohol prescription drugs and other substances then one has a lethal cocktail and some very very dangerous outcomes. 
We need to do something. I think it is right and proper that rather than putting it in the too-hard basket we make a move in that direction. I think it is also important to understand what is happening in other jurisdictions overseas right now. In Australia some states have labelled some of those products as illegal—they have been put into a fairly strict category. In the United States a temporary ban has been put on some of those herbal highs while their effects are studied. In New Zealand the police for instance say that they are closely monitoring the situation so that they are able to make recommendations. On some of those things it is almost as if the jury is out. I think we need to be very mindful of that as we proceed with this. Let us have the discussion. Let us call for the submissions. Let us take the very generous offer of the Hon Jim Anderton to make the best of what he has suggested and if necessary to change it completely to get the best outcome. United Future is certainly supportive of that. Our other concern is that creating a category D in the misuse of drugs legislation would facilitate the demotion of drugs currently classified as class C. We think that would be very detrimental to the young people of this nation.