McNair Craig: Motions — Misuse of Drugs (Classification of Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine) Order 2003—Approval 
McNair Craig: Motions — Misuse of Drugs (Classification of Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine) Order 2003—Approval 
[Volume:615;Page:11487] 
CRAIG McNAIR (NZ First) 
: 
 In speaking to the Government motion “That pursuant to section 4A of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 this House approve the Misuse of Drugs (Classification of Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine) Order 2003 made under section 4 of that Act.” I feel that to classify ephedrine and pseudoephedrine as controlled drugs is not only an appropriate step but also a very vital step to make in our day and time and in light of the issues around us in this nation regarding the use of those drugs. 
The classifications recommended by the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs late last year are needed to make it illegal to import those products without a licence and to significantly increase the penalties for people illegally importing those precursors for use in the manufacture of illicit methamphetamines. 
I and my colleagues in New Zealand First believe that this is a step in the right direction but I also believe that as it is only a step in the right direction we have a lot further to go. I am sure everybody in the House would agree with that. I am not blaming the Government or saying that this should be the be-all and end-all of the matter. It certainly helps and it is a start but as I said it is only a step in the right direction and I believe that it does not help when our young people—and people right across the community—are receiving mixed messages. 
We have a Prime Minister who agrees with decriminalisation of marijuana. We have—and I will try to be very objective here—the Green Party that wants to decriminalise marijuana. I personally believe and my party believes and feels very strongly that that sends out the wrong message to our community and to young people in our community. The Green Party was the only party in the House that voted against the reclassification of methamphetamine to a class A drug and wanted to keep it at its then classification which was very disappointing and sends out a lot of mixed messages. The mixed messages do not come only from the Green Party but also from the other things that I have just mentioned. [ 
Interruption 
] Does the member send out mixed messages as well? 
The effects of those drugs on crime and violence have never been clearer. That is a fact and I am sure that even Jill Pettis would agree with me on that. The subtlety of the effects of those narcotics on the brain— 
Jill Pettis 
: What am I agreeing with? 
CRAIG McNAIR 
: The member is agreeing that the effects of those drugs on crime and violence have never been clearer. Surely Ms Jill Pettis should agree with that. 
Jill Pettis 
: Mrs. I’m married. 
CRAIG McNAIR 
: I apologise. Congratulations. The subtlety of the effects of those narcotics on the brain and in speeding up the ageing process are not understood by many users but the devastation in our communities and the growth of criminal gangs certainly are. I call on this Government not just to make little steps such as those—which are in the right direction but are still not enough—but also to introduce a four-pronged attack on this modern-day scourge. It is time we as a nation and we as a Parliament say that enough is enough and that we even take a leaf out of Murupara’s book and declare our communities drug-free. It was encouraging to see that local community once again featuring in the  
New Zealand Herald  
yesterday on this issue. 
That attack would be a community-coordinated response as well as comprehensive drug education policing providing the police with the resources and the powers to bust the gangs and close down the labs and treatment to halt repeat offending. I believe such a programme is vital for our country’s future. Just moving on the issue of reclassifying drugs will not be enough. The first part of the four-pronged attack that I have just touched on—community response—would involve community mobilisation to raise awareness of drug issues and the implementation of surveillance and reporting strategies central funding requirements for locally administrated programmes and regional project management—bringing together representatives from the police health services schools and other agencies with local service providers councils and community organisations. 
In addition we would have to employ—or encourage the Government to employ—a project manager in each region to help implement the strategy. We also need to strengthen enforcement efforts by reporting hot spots and drug houses to the police providing recreational tutoring and job-training programmes and also developing military or community service training programmes for unemployed young people in order to develop discipline self-esteem skills and civic pride. That is something that is already in New Zealand First’s policy. 
One of the other prongs that I talked about was drug prevention education programmes targeting large populations especially schools. Why schools? Schools have a large population of young people who may experiment with those kinds of things and they need to be targeted. It is self-explanatory really. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: Not when I was at school. 
CRAIG McNAIR 
: Things have changed a little bit since we were at school. I am sure Mr Cosgrove would agree with that as well. 
We also need to encourage improved parenting skills—which is obviously a given—and selective intervention to focus on risk groups such as truants. Truancy is one of the problems we have in this nation that seems to be spiralling out of control in so many areas. Just the other day I was talking with people at an alternative education school and I looked at its programme. One of the teachers said that when students are playing hooky and running around the first thing they do is get into those types of drugs. That was a big start in their downward spiral. Thankfully some of them have been able to come out of that situation but some have not and it is very sad to see the kind of effect that drugs have on our young people. 
To finish I quote the Iowa Attorney-General Tom Miller who said: “The number one thing we can do to fight crime is fight drugs and the number one thing we can do to fight drugs is to do a better job with drug treatment.” That is another major issue we face as a Parliament and as a country and we have to have law enforcement education and treatment all working together to fight that problem. 
 Taking ephedrine and pseudoephedrine off the shelves of our pharmacies is a great step in the right direction as I said but so much more needs to be done. I feel as if we are missing the boat in so many areas and we are seeing a lot of people affected. This is not a drug that is confined to young people. It definitely affects young people in a big way in the clubbing scene and so on but it also affects many working class people of all ages—and upper class high class and lower class people; it affects everybody.