Kerekere ElizabethDr ELIZABETH KEREKERE (Green): Kia ora. Today I rise to speak on behalf of my colleague Chlöe Swarbrick who has actively worked with community and in the Health Committee to progress this bill to this point. With great disappointment that she is not here I would like to thank some people on her behalf—and I quote—Holly Donald; Ralph Hall; Wendy Allison; Jez Weston; KnowYourStuff volunteers; Fiona Hudson and her post-grad field students; the brains behind Splore Festival; Ross Bell; Kali"—aroha mai if that's incorrect—"Mercer; Sarah Helm; Gary who without COVID restrictions would be sitting up there in the gallery in his weed suit; Dakta; the 6000 people who signed our petition; and Ministers Nash Little and Clark who used their political will to make this happen. There's so much more to do but this is a crucial victory for drug harm reduction."We note this omnibus bill amends several of our current laws and it allows the Director-General of Health to allow certain providers to be gazetted. So not an ad hoc system; a very organised system to operate these drug-checking services legally so they can operate with legal certainty and they cannot be prosecuted. It enables them to maintain the privacy of those who check because in the same way that people will not line up for a very very long time to have their drugs taken off them they also don't want their personal details being used anywhere else.Importantly it is funded. We note that any investment in prevention in this and all other manner of health measures it not only supports that harm reduction approach—but it saves money—but it reduces the pressure on our already overwhelmed health and mental health systems.The Greens have a long whakapapa of campaigning to improve the laws around drug and substance use in this country including to legalise cannabis for medicinal and recreational purposes and in supporting the Government last year addressing the synthetic crisis. We acknowledge the work of Green MPs: the legendary Nandor Tanczos Metiria Turei Kevin Hague the Hon Julie Anne Genter and of course Chlöe Swarbrick herself.The Greens policy commits us to supporting measures to enhance people's capacity for informed choice which is what drug checking does. It also says that we make decisions and we build our policies on evidence and science actual research that's beyond asking people's opinions or refuting the finds of peer reviewed reports from universities. We know from the research then including from KnowYourStuff and the Drug Foundation that consistently people will change their drug behaviours and be less risky when they know what that substance is. That's the core of the bill that we support making sure that these predominantly young people make good decisions based on good information without being judged or penalised because this bill is not about whether young people will take drugs or not—they will.I am also a person who has never taken drugs. I've never smoked anything and I understand that I'm an unusual person in that regard. I'm not going to judge our whānau or any other person for their choices. I want to help though. I want to make sure they have the information they need to make good choices and make sure we have a health system that's going to look after them no matter what. I agree that this focus on just our summer festivals and the things that are happening is not enough. It doesn't address the more problematic drug issues that are happening in particularly our lower-income communities of colour. But we always look for solutions then that look at health education housing and social issues that affect our communities and look for solutions based again on evidence but on local community insight. There are many organisations out there who are very very skilled very knowledgeable in these areas and they're working hard in their local communities. We welcome the recommendations of He Ara Oranga that recommended decriminalising users and Turuki! Turuki! which went even further and suggested legally regulating certain substances.I was very heartened to hear my colleague Dr McLellan just before say that the punitive approach doesn't always work. I look forward to having further conversations on that because that's certainly a Green way of looking at things.To conclude this is a world-class framework for drug checking. It needs to be applied to more places than festivals. We hope to see this compassionate non-judgmental nature applied in other circumstances especially where there are young people and regardless of where they come from or whether they can afford to go to these festivals or not—along with a complete restructure of our health and mental health systems. We look forward to the overhaul of the Misuse of Drugs Act. We see this as a springboard to decriminalise starting with cannabis and then moving into more detail for other things. But for now thank you. We commend this bill to the House."