Ball DarrochDARROCH BALL (NZ First): Thank you sir. It's a pleasure to rise on behalf of New Zealand First in support of this Psychoactive Substances (Increasing Penalty for Supply and Distribution) Amendment Bill. There are a few points that I want to make about this bill on behalf of New Zealand First—our stance and why we take this stance. The most important is obviously why we are supporting this bill. The main reason is that this focuses on dealers manufacturers and suppliers—that's it. It is not talking about those who are addicted those who are suffering those who are vulnerable and those who are users. We are talking about gangs. We are talking about the dealers who don't care how many people they kill; the manufacturers who don't care how many people are addicted. Actually they want more people to be addicted because it makes them more money. They don't care about the effects; all they care about is themselves.I have got no idea who in this House would have any sympathy whatsoever for those manufacturers those dealers and those people who peddle this—well people call it a drug; it's more like just a chemical.Hon Members: Poison.DARROCH BALL: It's a poison. We have heard the stories and we all know that there are dozens and dozens of people dying from this stuff every year and it's getting worse. It's increasing and it's an epidemic. There is no doubt also that in isolation this bill—will it stop all of those deaths? Will it stop all of those people from becoming addicted? Probably not but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be taking a hard stance on those manufacturers and those dealers. There is no doubt that we must increase the penalties for the supply and manufacture of this poison.We don't believe in New Zealand First that this is the perfect solution. We've heard reasons from the speakers from the Labour Party the Ministers from the Labour Party about why it's not a perfect solution. Actually we agree with that but if we're standing in this House and the choice that we have is to do nothing to kick the can down the road or to make the choice to support something that will go perhaps just some way to deterring people from supplying this poison to those vulnerable people that we want to protect then that's the kind of bill that New Zealand First is going to support. The fact is we must do something—we must do something.We do have some caveats and some concerns with the bill—we do because it's not perfect; there are some areas it does not cover some important areas. The genesis and purpose of this bill is to move the maximum sentence from two years for manufacture and supply to eight. It's been identified and mentioned before but this is—and it needs to be understood—a maximum sentence. The judges still have discretion. The judges still have a raft of tools to use if they so wish and decide on the individuals that come in front of them. This is just a maximum sentence. We heard one of the previous speakers say that this will only criminalise more people. That is absolutely not true; all it does is allow the judge to dish out a harsher penalty to those same people and when they get those maximum penalties and those prison sentences they are reserved for the worst of the offenders—for the worst of the offenders. Why on earth would we not allow our judicial system to increase the penalties for the worst of those offenders? It makes no sense whatsoever that we will not give those extra tools to the judges.One of the Ministers quoted from the Police Association submission. I would also like to quote something from the Police Association submission and in most part New Zealand First agrees with what the submission actually says. It says The Association recognises the link between habitual psychoactive drug use and crime is largely due to the high cost of a drug habit fed by a criminal marketplace. Therefore as with any other criminally supplied drug it seems logical to target the supplier as this amendment intends." It goes on to say the association "would like to see an emphasis on a holistic approach to dealing with these illicit substances"—100 percent agree; there is no disagreement from New Zealand First with that statement—"one which prioritises factors contributing to addiction. Within the context of a broad review an extension of prison sentences for suppliers and manufacturers may turn out to be part of the equation but we do not consider it the sole fix." Absolutely—this is part of the equation and if we've been asked in this House to make a decision about whether we want to vote for a piece of legislation that is part of the solution—understood it's not the sole fix; but is part of the solution—then I wonder why we are not all doing that tonight.I'd also in my last few minutes talk about the Misuse of Drugs Act because it's quite important and it's actually one of the reasons why Simeon Brown has moved the maximum years of imprisonment from two to eight because two is equivalent to a class C drug—importation manufacture or supply. The caveat as I mentioned earlier—one of them is that New Zealand First's Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) is agreed to and passes in this House—is actually to increase the maximum sentence from two years to 14 years. The reason why we have decided on 14 years is that it is equivalent to a class B drug. If you look at class C drugs you are talking about cannabis plant cannabis seed coca leaf. If you look at the class B drugs we are talking about drugs like opium morphine amphetamine. We believe that the—SPEAKER: Order! I am going to—the member sits down when I stand up. The member can make a passing reference to an SOP but he cannot go into detail on it at the second reading. He must wait until the committee stage.DARROCH BALL: Thank you Mr Speaker. The Minister also mentioned that there was consideration being taken for bringing the psychoactive drugs or those types of drugs into the Misuse of Drugs Act and potentially into class A. I think that's a very important discussion to have. I think that we need to be able as part of the holistic approach to give the police the ability that the Misuse of Drugs Act actually gives them—the tools that it gives them the search and surveillance tools that it gives them.We will be supporting this bill because we have an epidemic that is ever-increasing and thus far over the years that it's been occurring we have not been able to come up with a solution. But we believe that this is a part of that solution. We believe that it is necessary as a deterrent—not only that but as a tool for our judicial system to use at their discretion. New Zealand First will be supporting this bill and we will be looking forward to the development of a more holistic approach in this search for a solution for this poison that is on our streets. Thank you."