Wall Louisa: Psychoactive Substances Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWall Louisa: Psychoactive Substances Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 06 May 2014. Volume:698;Page:17550. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]LOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa): Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. Thank you very much for this opportunity to speak in the third reading of the Psychoactive Substances Amendment Bill. As a member of the Health Committee which heard the primary piece of legislation I want to reiterate the sentiments shared across the House that the context that the country was facing was one where these products were out there. We needed a regime that regulated them but what we have seen is that regime fall short of creating the appropriate framework for us to determine what safe substances are. In fact what we have seen is that the substances that are currently available have been incredibly detrimental to the health and well-being of our communities right across the country. It was an honest attempt by the select committee within the context of a bill that needed to be rushed through by 1 August because the Associate Minister of Health the Hon Peter Dunne had temporary class drug notices for 30 substances and 50 products that would have expired.We had to react and create a regime that now has enabled us as a society a community to regulate these products and I guess the next test for the Minister of Health is in fact the development of the psychoactive product approval process. I know that that consultation process concluded at the end of March. It is part of a work programme that could eventually see some types of products be available for our communities. It is within that context that I want to highlight from the primary legislation the local approved products policy. As a select committee we were really clear that local communities local government should be empowered with tools to then be able to say where these products should be sold.I want to congratulate our local government representatives around the country on passing the ball back to Parliament so that we could create this framework to enable safe substances to be sold. I want to highlight that the ball is in their court about where those products can be sold so all of them should continue with their consultations andwith their development of these local approved products policies in anticipation that eventually there may be some products that will be available.I think it is worth highlighting that because we were also really clear through this process that prohibition was not the answer. I know that my colleague Kevin Hague had some particular perspectives around that given that the most damaging drug in our country is alcohol and many New Zealanders die through the consumption of alcohol coupled with tobacco. As a mature nation we had to have I guess a grown-up conversation about where these psychoactive substances fit within the context of us regulating those substances.I am not going to talk for much longer but I do want to highlight that there have been incredible activists in our community. There is a woman called Julie King who lives in Tokoroa. She is part of a group called Love Soup. I have never been there but I have seen her Facebook posts. She is an ordinary passionate woman living in our community. She loves her community and she was really concerned about what these products were doing not only to the young people but to the people within that Tokoroa community. She took it upon herself with other people within that community to make a stand.I want to acknowledge that engagement because I think that what we have seen in this process is that democracy does work that people actually do have power and that when they develop a critical mass they will get reactions from political parties and people in power. So we do have to commend the Government for doing something. At the end of the day it does not matter who did what because we are all here tonight and our votes will be recorded. There is some consensus about the passing of this bill.Finally I want to thank a local group called group called the Warriors of Change. They are young people based in Manurewa. On 11 May 2013 they organised a rally. We had a shop right in the middle of the Manurewa township and the young people decided that they did not want these products sold in their community. I want to commend them for their activism and for their motivation to show that as a community they did not want the shop where it was and they did not want these products sold. I want to credit them the local board members and local bodies right around the country for the work that they have done. As we have seen through collective action pieces of legislation like this one can be passed and they are actually going to benefit the people of our communities in New Zealand. Kia ora. Thank you.