Robson Matt: Motions — Misuse of Drugs (Changes to Controlled Drugs) Order 2003 
Robson Matt: Motions — Misuse of Drugs (Changes to Controlled Drugs) Order 2003 
[Volume:608;Page:5671] 
Hon MATT ROBSON (Deputy Leader—Progressive) 
: 
 It is always interesting listening to parties which demand that one puts more into this and more into that yet have tax policies that give more away to the rich do not have an economic policy that says how they will pay for those demands and yet demand that they be done. In fact I would say that most of the parties outside of those in the Labour and Progressive coalition Government have never said how they will pay for any of those services. 
This legislation is an Order in Council and there have been many statements tonight on what should be done about drug abuse and drug offending. That is all well and good but the Order in Council does not pretend to be anything more than a step in one small area. There is clearly an anomaly—we agree on that I believe. Every statement I have heard tonight says that methamphetamine is a dangerous drug and that those who take it are both dangerous to themselves and to the community. The murders carried out by Ese Falealii to name but one crime in Auckland were done when he was high on methamphetamine. Methamphetamine was involved too in the William Bell murders. They are but two well-known cases and there are many others. The police youth agencies and those involved in community work have all said that this is one of the worst drugs that they have ever seen come into the community. This Order in Council is purely to give methamphetamine its appropriate legal status as a dangerous drug as it is ridiculous to have it classed with drugs of lesser danger. That is the first step. The Associate Minister of Health Jim Anderton is responsible for this legislation and nowhere in the speeches he has given has there been any statement that the Order in Council will meet greater needs. Other Ministers Jim Anderton himself and the officials involved in this issue are of course working on a broad front. 
If one wants an overall picture on drug use and abuse one can go back right through eternity and look at the issue in its totality. All communities and all societies have had problems in different ways and in the different forms we are facing in Aotearoa - New Zealand particularly with our young people. I believe that what the House needs to do on an issue like this is exactly what it has to do on the wider issue of criminal offending and that is look for the facts and look at what works rather than just trying to score points on who knows more about offending who is more serious about it and who wants to get to the core problems. 
Behind this Order in Council is not Mr Jim Anderton alone—although I am sure he would not mind taking the credit attributed to him by other people—but a whole range of expert bodies who have given advice on this particular step. Amongst them is the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs. Its very name shows that the people on it know quite a lot about the subject. There are many other bodies and they have all recommended that this drug be shifted into the category of a class A drug. Then there is the work going on inside the prisons in the various health service agencies and so forth across our country. Of course we have to take notice of all of those areas and take action in respect of all of them. 
The most ridiculous part of this debate was that those voting against the measure said there were other solutions. Of course there are other solutions and I refer to a press statement put out by the Green Party that states: “The solution lies in reducing demand through education and treatment and reducing supply by targeting precursor drugs such as pseudoephedrine.” If that is the solution and it is that simple it is a wonder that nobody has stumbled across it until now—not just in New Zealand but across the whole world. I suggest that we might need to look a bit further and say that the solution might need a bit more thought than those three lines. I do not see that a seminar run by even an esteemed member like Mr Nandor Tanczos and calling on people producing P to come and be educated on drugs is the sole solution. He may not have meant that but if he did not the solution should be expanded on a bit more and connected to all of the other things being done in New Zealand. 
I say to this House that this is a serious issue. I accept that every member wants to make sure that our community is not at risk because of what we are doing but the problem will not be solved by people just throwing across epithets that imply that other people do not care that it is purely a matter for the Budget or that it is purely to get support from this or that party. For goodness’ sake! We should accept that every member—even if one does not agree with him or her—wants to be rid of this curse to our society and wants to be rid of it particularly for our young people. All we are being asked to do is to allow one little section of our legislative armoury Orders in Council to class methamphetamine where it should be—as one of the most dangerous drugs we have and therefore class A.