Scott Lynda: Motions — Misuse of Drugs (Changes to Controlled Drugs) Order 2003 
Scott Lynda: Motions — Misuse of Drugs (Changes to Controlled Drugs) Order 2003 
[Volume:608;Page:5663] 
Dr LYNDA SCOTT (NZ National—Kaikoura) 
: 
 I am pleased to be able to speak on this motion tonight. First of all I must thank the Hon Wyatt Creech who began to bring into this House the ability for us to do what we are doing tonight—that is the expeditious scheduling of methamphetamine to a class A drug. A class A drug is classified as the most dangerous type of drug. Anyone who is listening to this debate needs to know that methamphetamine is a highly dangerous drug. People think that it is just a party drug but when they wake up in the police cells and find that they have committed horrendous violent crimes then they have to think about what they have done with their lives. I have heard of people whom that has happened to. They think they are just out there for a good night they take one of those drugs and then wake up to find that they have committed horrendous violent crimes. That is the thing about methamphetamines—the risk of violence associated with them. I am sure the public is quite aware that we have had many horrendous violent crimes lately. We recently had a taxi driver in Blenheim slashed with a knife. Methamphetamine is implicated in some of those crimes. That is why it is a pleasure tonight to see that that drug is being reclassified in this way expeditiously through the process that was introduced by the Hon Wyatt Creech. That is excellent. 
Other drugs are being reclassified tonight as well. They are the look-alike drugs that are very similar to methamphetamine. We know that there are people out there making drugs to try to sell to our younger people. They are pretty quick off the mark. The minute one drug becomes a class A drug that means that people can get life imprisonment for making or importing it so they manufacture another drug. That is a pretty serious issue. The people who are out there—the scumbags of this world—producing those things look to produce other similar drugs with a similar chemical structure but that are just slightly different so that they do not get caught. There are other drugs such as methcathinone which is being classified as a class B1 drug and pemoline and aminorex which are being classified as class C5 drugs. That is in order to come into line with international treaties. As yet those drugs are not significant drugs in New Zealand but that measure is to ratify an international treaty on narcotic drugs. 
I do not think the methamphetamine risk is as well recognised as the risk of LSD was. When LSD was around in the 1960s and 1970s people came to know that they could have bad trips on it and could end up in psychiatric hospitals with permanent psychotic episodes and flashbacks that put them into a psychosis. I do not think the general public has recognised that methamphetamines can do the same sorts of things. So it is good that this order is happening tonight. 
I was pleased that those of us on the Health Committee could all work so well together on the reclassification of these drugs. But I have to tell members that I was amazed that the Greens chose not to vote for that. They actually decided in their minority report that they would not vote for that; they did not agree with the reclassification of methamphetamine as a class A drug. The Greens did not believe there were sound arguments to show that increasing the classification beyond the one that is currently adopted would reduce the use of amphetamines in New Zealand. I am pretty sure that when the people who are actually making those drugs know that they can get life imprisonment for doing so that will have an effect. The police have the powers of search and seizure with no warrant which means that they can act very promptly to find anybody who is making that sort of drug which has such a serious affect on our youth. 
I heard the last speaker talking about the Government’s commitment to improving alcohol and drug services for youth. Well it is about time for that. Certainly nothing has happened in the last 4 years. The only thing I can remember is that Queen Mary Hospital in the electorate that I represent Kaikoura had its youth programme at Hanmer Springs shut down. How was that supposed to help when at the same time the Christchurch drug court was being set up to try to help young people who get caught up in the drug world? When the in-patient programme that actually dealt with the most serious cases was shut down what did they have to do then? Those youngsters had to be sent to Auckland—from Christchurch up to Auckland. How did that help? Those kids were taken completely away from their families and from anyone in the South Island who might have been able to give them some support and were sent to Auckland for treatment. The decision to end the youth programme at Queen Mary Hospital was a very short-sighted decision. 
I am pleased to support this reclassification order under the Misuse of Drugs Act and the change to have methamphetamine become a class A drug. The psychological effects of methamphetamine can last for a very long time. The effects of taking just a small amount can last up to 6 days. Also people can crash after they have stopped taking those sorts of drugs. That ends up in depression fatigue sleeplessness and of course people have absolutely no ability to work under those situations. So we see the people who are involved in that sort of drug scene get into a vicious cycle. My advice to young people out there is not to take those drugs at parties and not to risk becoming involved in that sort of drug scene. They can get their kicks without using drugs. I am very pleased to support this measure tonight.