O'Connor GregGREG O'CONNOR (Labour—Ōhāriu): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'd just like to reiterate the words of the previous speaker that it is nice to have a piece of legislation that comes before a select committee where there is a determination to do one thing: to make it a good piece of legislation. Certainly that was the case with this piece of legislation ably assisted I might say by the expert panel. We had Dr Helen Poulsen come. One of the issues—and again it was touched on by the previous speaker—was it's very easy for a piece of legislation like this to become mixed with one's views on cannabis and other drugs the legality and otherwise and so it's very important to make sure that this is a clinical bill evidence-led and that any legislation we pass through here is about one thing: making our roads safer. Making our roads safer means it must be about impairment in the same way that drink-driving is about not just intoxication; it's about whether someone should be safe to drive.The reassurance we got was from the expert panel from Dr Poulsen in things like the degree of science they were able to bring to us. I'll just quote one of the findings: When cannabis is inhaled maximum blood THC concentrations occur within minutes of dosing and reach the maximum while a cannabis cigarette is still being smoked." I won't read the whole thing. This is the sort of evidence they were able to bring to us because again and again Mr Mitchell has talked about those who have come before us who believe that cannabis should somehow be exempted or that it doesn't make any difference. It's also very important to remember that within this the substances the six most prevalent impairing drugs which will be able to be tested for are THC obviously; methamphetamine; benzodiazepines; MDMA better known as ecstasy; opiates; and cocaine. Of course these—and I know it's quite interesting. In police the surveillance squads who follow drivers are ones who have a lot of expertise in this area because they know pretty much what those they are trying to surveil—what sort of drug they are likely to be on by the degree of impairment. Again it's important to remember this is about degree of impairment.So we did hear some very good submissions from the Police Association the Medical Association the Road Transport Forum just to name a few. There were those again whose submissions may have just become mixed up with their politics or their belief around drugs and there's certainly a move around the world and in New Zealand to talk about dealing with drugs as a health issue but there is no more health issue than those who are in the trauma wards of our hospitals who see week after week—in fact the statistics show a third of those who die on our roads who have been drivers in accidents have some sort of drug in their body. A third. Think about that.So just to go to the technicalities of this the testing devices will be designed. They are oral testing devices relatively easy to ensure that the drugs that are to be detected are to be detected. I think one thing I will leave you with and leave those listening behind with is an absolute assurance that this is science-based and that the politics that will inevitably surround anything to do with drug-driving and particularly anything to do with cannabis—you can rest assured that the legislation in the form it is in the testing devices in the form they are in are guaranteed to ensure that this is a safe scientific approach. Therefore I have no hesitation in commending this to the House."