Chadwick Steve: Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill (No 3) — First Reading 
Chadwick Steve: Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill (No 3) — First Reading 
[Volume:620;Page:15700] 
STEVE CHADWICK (Labour—Rotorua) 
: 
 I am pleased to take a call on the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill (No 3) and to follow that sensible member in Opposition because this bill is one of the strategies that as members of Parliament we feel we can get our heads round to prevent the misuse of drugs. It is a responsibility of every leader as a member of Parliament to show leadership on this issue particularly given the extent of the use of methamphetamine in this country. It is baked in labs in neighbourhoods that one would not believe and is endangering the lives of mothers and children in kitchens around the country. Leaders in this House must act of one accord to help the police and the Customs Service in their endeavours constantly to minimise the impact of these precursors on our society. 
It was interesting today to hear the Hon Rick Barker’s response. I would just like to repeat that we have this year seized 10 kilos of crystal methamphetamine compared with 0.9 kilos the year before and have also seized 1.3 million ephedrine and pseudoephedrine tablets which is more than double the amount seized the year before. I think the Misuse of Drugs Act scheduling process is starting to kick in when we see that sort of yield through customs. I remember working with the Hon Wyatt Creech when we first considered the Misuse of Drugs Bill and put in this unique scheduling through Order in Council. We all talked about expeditious scheduling and we all did not quite realise just how often we would be revisiting the Misuse of Drugs Act in terms of giving a very flexible and fast-action response to the recommendations of the expert advisory committee on drugs about rescheduling about dealing with issues of importation and about cutting off supply at the borders of this country. 
 I am pleased to see that now a Ministry of Justice official will go on to the expert advisory committee. At the time we introduced the legislation we did not consider that was necessary. It is great to see that we always have a flexible response to the way in which we deal with those issues. 
The one other thing I want to do today—because I have heard about the presumption of supply that will be dealt with through this legislation—is congratulate the Associate Minister of Health Jim Anderton on his Community Action on Youth and Drugs initiatives around the country. There were five when we got into Government and this year we put $2.55 million more into building up 15 more of those programmes around the country. I assure the House that wherever I go—places such as Thames and the Coromandel where I was just last week—people ask how they could get one of the Community Action on Youth and Drugs programmes. Murupara wanted a Community Action on Youth and Drug programme so did Rotorua and many other communities are saying that the programme is having an effect. 
I am sure that along with introducing this legislation we will keep up our war on the misuse of drugs in this country. I look forward to this bill coming to our committee.