Cheung CarlosDr CARLOS CHEUNG (National—Mt Roskill): Thank you. This is my third and final contribution to this bill and I rise to support it. Make no mistake: the National-led coalition Government is committed to improve the health outcome of all New Zealanders. We recently announced five health targets: a focus on faster cancer treatment improved immunisation rates shorter stays in emergency departments shorter wait times for first specialist assessments and shorter times for elective treatment. These targets will support the delivery of better health outcomes of all New Zealanders and improve the performance of our health service throughout the country.Today to reclassify pseudoephedrine from a class B2 to a class C3 controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 is another example that our Government is working hard to improve the health outcomes of all New Zealanders. This allows cold and flu products containing pseudoephedrine to be sold without a prescription.Sleep is like a medicine for the immune system ultimately helping you to make a full recovery from an illness. Too often New Zealanders suffer with cold and flu symptoms such as a runny and blocked nose leading to loss of sleep and they can feel exhausted for almost up to two weeks. Impairment of sleep can lead to serious cold symptoms and cold symptoms can actually impair sleep a cycle developed that must be broken in order to permit fast and efficient recovery. Pseudoephedrine is a tried and tested medication with a number of uses including as an effective decongestant so it stops running noses or resolves blocked noses.For me personally—and I believe for a lot of New Zealanders—the current alternative medicines in the market are either less effective or they have certain side effects. For example some of the medicine for cold and flu treatment is not suitable for patients with high blood pressure. So for that pseudoephedrine will be a very effective medicine for them and patients should have the option to use the medicine that suits them best.Furthermore during a cost of living crisis many employees actually face sick leave anxiety once their accumulated sick leave has been used and any future sick leave is often taken as unpaid leave. Rent mortgage and bills still need to be paid. Enabling employees to recover faster from cold and flu will reduce the numbers of sick days required and allow New Zealanders to go to work pay their bills and get our country back on track.Furthermore I've been doing a little bit of an extra mile talking to a lot of pharmacists and also a lot of pharmacy owners regarding this bill. A lot of them the feedback that comes back is telling me that pseudoephedrine was a very effective drug against cold and flu compared to other drugs in the market and it was in high demand prior to being banned in 2011.Enabling New Zealanders to purchase effective over-the-counter cold and flu medication will not only benefit the patient but also reduce the pressure on front-line GPs in our healthcare service especially as we approach winter when demand on our healthcare system peaks. GPs have long waiting lists. In the past few months I have been visiting medical centres having a chat having a conversation with a lot of GPs especially in Mount Roskill. The common feedback I receive is that they are reaching their maximum capacity and no longer taking any new patients. So this bill means that New Zealanders will have an effective option rather than picking up the phone to their overloaded GP. Therefore I would like to take the opportunity to thank you all the pharmacists who will be at the front line for this winter supplying pseudoephedrine to the patient.So why was such an effective medicine banned in 2011 by the last National Government? This was in the best of intentions to target unlawful manufacture of P. As our colleague from New Zealand First just mentioned at that time we were not ready. However the unintended consequence has seen a surge in imported P whilst leaving ordinary New Zealanders without an effective over-the-counter cold and flu medication.Also we got more feedback during the select committee stage as well with 169 submissions received from individuals and nine from organisations. Here I would like to thank you all the submitters for all their time and their contributions in this bill. Most organisations including the pharmaceutical industry bodies and drug harm prevention groups indicated support for this bill in their submissions. One of the submitters actually told the committee that pseudoephedrine products are of little value for people interested in commercially supplied meth as there are now cheaper and easier ways to manufacture it.The price of meth or P dropped by 28 percent from $563 per gram in 2017 to now $406 in 2022-23. Massey University drug research team leader Associate Professor Chris Wilkins concludes that this reflects increasingly large scales of production of meth in South-east Asia East Asia and America. However make no mistake meth or P is still a destructive drug which ruins lives and tears families apart right across New Zealand for decades. However this Government we are committed to tackle gangs and organised crime including banning gang patches and seizing unlawfully obtained assets so the concern of being used as unlawful drugs will be minimised.Furthermore according to this bill pseudoephedrine will remain as a controlled drug as a class 3 controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975. According to this bill importation of pseudoephedrine by mail or online shopping will also rightly remain unlawful. This bill strikes the right balance between access and protecting the public against improper use. This Government will continue to progress amendments to the Medicines Regulations 1984 reclassifying pseudoephedrine-containing cold and flu products as restricted medicine. This classification means consumers can purchase the products at the pharmacy but will need to do so by way of a face-to-face transaction with a pharmacist. The pharmacist must record information and give advice as appropriate including people who would not take pseudoephedrine for clinical reasons.Therefore as I said again this bill actually strikes the right balance between access and protecting the public against improper use. The bill actually reflects international best practice and matches similar settings in the range of other countries we like to compare ourselves to including the United Kingdom United States Canada and Australia. However even though we have such effective drugs your health—oh not your health but our people New Zealanders' health—is this Government's priority. I wish everyone a healthy and happy winter and keep warm. I commend this bill to the House.