Clark DavidHon Dr DAVID CLARK (Minister of Health): I stand to speak against this bill as I have throughout its passage but acknowledging the I think genuine intent of the member who brought it to the House Simeon Brown who has a passion for seeing something done about this issue.We on this side of the House believe that this is not actually the best way of addressing the issue because we do want to make sure that people caught in the web of addiction are given support to break the addiction and we believe that what is important about dealing with the suppliers of the drugs is that the police have the search and seizure powers necessary to actually stop the supply of drugs.I note that the New Zealand Police Association argued that substance use and crime are often linked to the high cost of a drug habit fed by a criminal market place. These are the people who deal with the hardest end of crime but they argued in the Justice Committee that this bill is not supported by evidence that increased penalties will deter people that use or supply these drugs; these are desperate people.We make no apology on this side of the House for going after the peddlers of these drugs. That is part of a health-based approach to addressing the scourge of these synthetic drugs. But we also believe that the important thing is that there is a health-based approach to support those caught in the web of addiction and we believe that only that way will people be able to be supported to get out of that addiction to live the best lives that they can lead.In recent days I have received advice from district health boards that the presentations of harm have lowered significantly in the last year for drugs attributable in this way—for synthetic drugs. That is good news. It is however too soon to celebrate that. We need to keep a watchful eye because we know that there are still drugs of this nature on our streets albeit that customs are finding fewer of them coming through the border in the evidence that we've seen so far.The best solution of course—and it needs to be put on record—is for people not to take these drugs and I think everyone in the House would agree that to be the case. The evidence around synthetic drugs is that of all of the prohibited substances these are amongst the most dangerous and that is why in the bill that I have before the House they are classified as class A to ensure these drugs are put in the most severe category giving police the powers they need to prosecute the suppliers and also the powers they need for search and seizure.I do want to pick up on the point the member Simeon Brown has raised around the new class C1. He argued that he wasn't sure how long it would take to classify substances coming into the country. This is precisely the point of that new class C1: it will mean that within a matter of days of receiving advice that drugs are harmful I as Minister of Health will be able to classify drugs in a way that will enable the police to have the search and seizure powers they require to crack down on suppliers. So that is good news and I expect the member will welcome that.What I would challenge the member on here is that he can't have it both ways. He can't in the same breath as he did challenge this Government on dragging its feet and say that we are decriminalising by stealth. Those two things are mutually contradictory and yet the member would have us believe in this House that we're doing both of them at the same time; that this process of putting the bill through the House is far too slow that we're dragging our feet in terms of the bill that we're putting through to reduce harm and crack down on suppliers but that we're doing it by stealth by doing it all too quickly under the radar. Those two things cannot both be true.We are moving with appropriate speed. We know that these drugs are harmful to the citizens that we represent to the people of New Zealand but we also know that we need a thorough process. There have been hearings today that have been reported on that ensure that there are no unintended consequences of this law; that we don't punish those who are in the web of addiction by making them considered as suppliers by getting the amount wrong that we don't write in the law something that a trained lawyer can spot as having caused trouble in past legislation. This is how a select committee process goes. As the member and other members in this House understand a select committee process when it's thorough can iron out some of the creases in the first drafting of a bill and make sure there aren't unintended consequences to make sure that we actually put through the best legislation that is possible to address this scourge of synthetic drugs on our society.It is disappointing in my view that this bill has progressed so far through the House when there is evidence and information available that would show that it isn't the best way to address the issue; that simply increasing sentences for those caught peddling the drugs just on its own won't have a deterrent effect. That's what the evidence tells us. Actually giving the police the powers to search for and seize these drugs is a better approach is what is needed. We have a different approach whereby we are supporting through codifying what the police already in practice do most of the time their preference for a health-based approach when they catch people caught in the web of addiction with an amount of drugs on them that corresponds with being a user of the drugs.Locking up more drug users is not the answer. All that that does is see a corresponding increase in the number of people using synthetic drugs in prisons. Many synthetic drugs don't show up in routine tests. The chemicals that make them up are changing all the time new substances are arriving in the country so prison managers rely instead on detector dogs and we know that that is a challenging method when the drugs are changing all the time. Prisoners do report for random drug testing but we know that that's not really a deterrent for these drugs when they're difficult to detect. In a recent survey nearly a quarter of all prisoners said it was very easy to get illegal drugs into prison. That's a longstanding issue.And we also know that incarceration doesn't stop drug dependence. It actually in many cases removes people from the support and the chance for recovery that might exist when they're surrounded by their family when they have income prospects hope and a home. Those things are more likely to help people wrestle with their addiction and the underlying causes of that addiction than putting them in prison. We know that the international evidence points us toward an approach that is based on treating use as a health issue in the first instance—unless of course there are other reasons why somebody should be locked up. The police have a discretion and that discretion will be in our legislation because we think it's important that that discretion is there where the police need it. So it's not full decriminalisation as some would have you believe but it is a step towards treating drugs as a health issue which we believe is the right approach.So we don't support this bill. We consider it to be redundant. We do take very seriously the issue of illicit drug supply and abuse and we have a plan to sort it out which we are getting on with moving quickly through this House but with the appropriate checks and balances in place. Our plan has the support of our coalition and confidence and supply partners and of the people of New Zealand.I do want to thank particularly New Zealand First for the constructive way that they have worked with us on our bill which will be a better solution and particularly the member Darroch Ball who has been very interested in this issue through time and has helped us find a way of looking out for those caught in the web of addiction and also made sure that we have an appropriate penalties regime and the search and supply powers for the police to actually interrupt the supply to do a constructive thing. So I do want to thank Mr Ball and New Zealand First. I also want to thank the member Chlöe Swarbrick and the Green Party for their support for the legislation we are putting through the House. They have been advocates and Chlöe in particular for a health-based approach to drug use and I want to acknowledge that and the constructive way in which they've worked towards getting that legislation through the House.So while the bill was well intended it uses the same old approach that has failed and that has led to the deaths of far too many people from these illicit substances. We know that around 80 New Zealanders over a two-year period have had deaths connected to them. We propose a new and better approach because we take this problem seriously and I want to thank the coalition and confidence and supply partners that we in Labour are working with to make sure we do have a solution to this scourge on our society.