Stewart Barbara: Misuse of Drugs (Classification of BZP) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Stewart Barbara: Misuse of Drugs (Classification of BZP) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 11 September 2007. Volume:642;Page:11721. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
BARBARA STEWART (NZ First) 
: 
 New Zealand First supports this Misuse of Drugs (Classification of BZP) Amendment Bill. We are very pleased in New Zealand First to see this bill appear. This is a serious issue for young people and it is a very serious issue for their parents particularly when we hear that some of the adverse effects of benzylpiperazine (BZP) can continue for up to 24 hours after the pills have been consumed. In New Zealand First we have had concerns and we believe that a precautionary approach should be taken rather than to jump in and test the water with both feet. We know that BZP was developed as a cattle drench during the 1950s. It was not even considered effective then as the side effects were not positive for cattle and its use was discontinued. 
I remind the House that the last time a bill amending the Misuse of Drugs Act came before Parliament New Zealand First put forward a Supplementary Order Paper to ban BZP. We believed that there was a total lack of research on the long-term effects of this particular substance and we do not like to test the water with both feet. The Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs was at this time reviewing the guidelines for the use of BZP but every party in this House voted against New Zealand First’s Supplementary Order Paper to ban it. We believed at the time that this was a very liberal stance for Parliament to take considering that we were reading many newspaper reports about cases being looked at in Christchurch Hospital of bad reactions from exposure to this particular drug. So we are very pleased to see this matter back before the House. 
We have concerns about the proliferation of party pills here in New Zealand. We have concerns about the safety of party pills. We need to be aware that they are not guaranteed to be absolutely harmless. They have not been around long enough to have the research carried out to guarantee that. We do not like to see these experiments taking place on the young people of New Zealand who are very willing to be experimented upon. Young people should not be treated like rats in a laboratory. We saw the bad effects of what happened over in Britain recently when young people had drugs tested on them. In reality we have to acknowledge the efforts of the Social Tonics Association to regulate aspects of the manufacture of BZP to try to limit the amount of BZP in each tablet to place some additional warnings on these highly coloured packets and to restrict the sales to those aged over 18. I note that these controls too were put in place partially with the Misuse of Drugs Act. 
I think we have to be very aware that people—manufacturers of these party pills and young people—are very willing to experiment. They are not risk-averse. They drink alcohol and they pop the party pills and it becomes a very serious issue when these two substances are used together. We know that it is very difficult for people to follow the instructions of their doctors and their pharmacists when they are taking prescription drugs so it is no wonder that our young people do not take any notice of the instructions that are on the packets of these party pills. 
We need to be mindful too that BZP has been outlawed in Australia the US and parts of Europe. It is very obvious that this issue has been very carefully considered in these particular countries so we believe that it is very timely to reconsider our stance here in New Zealand. We are only too aware that the research is not available on the effects of long-term use of BZP. We have heard from many other speakers how unpredictable the effects from party pills are. We believe that really a precautionary approach should always be taken on these particular matters. We know from Matt Bowden that other drugs are currently being manufactured to mimic the effects of party pills— 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: By him! 
BARBARA STEWART 
: They are being manufactured by him—Matt Bowden. We will be very interested to ensure that the legislation is flexible enough to take account of some of these other substances that Matt Bowden wants to make available to our young people. Unfortunately young people are very willing to consume these pills. 
New Zealand First will be very interested to hear from submitters and to work on this legislation during the select committee process. We are very happy to support this legislation to the select committee.