Clark David: Psychoactive Substances Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeClark David: Psychoactive Substances Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 06 May 2014. Volume:698;Page:17546. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr DAVID CLARK (Labour—Dunedin North): When we rush legislation there are frequently poor outcomes. That has been acknowledged by a number of members in the House. I want to make a short contribution covering one of the background informers about this situation that is lesser known and not so much in the public eye. Certainly in my area I want to draw attention to the work that Clare Curran did in Dunedin to raise awareness and an appetite for action. We together visited an outlet in South Dunedin recently close to a community mental health facility. It was pretty shocking to see the fly-by-night nature the lack of any investment. There was a real awareness that this was a dangerous business to be in just from walking into the shop itself.But I wanted to speak a little bit more about the poisons line—the National Poisons Centre in Dunedin—which has advised on the Psychoactive Substances Amendment Bill. I know that the centre supported the Government’s decision-making in the original Psychoactive Substances Act and that it has provided a huge amount of support to those wrestling with addiction in recent times. If viewers at home can pause for a minute and imagine that their child perhaps an 18-month-old has swallowed a range of unidentified pills or maybe even some leftover synthetic cannabinoids and they are then in the situation where the child is frothing at the mouth or unconscious currently we have the ability to ring an 0800 helpline: 0800 POISON. It is written on most toxic products in New Zealand. But what many people at home may not appreciate is that currently the Government has a proposal that it is consulting on that would rollHealthlineQuitline the Alcohol Drug Helpline the National Depression Initiative problem gambling support and the 0800 POISON number into one service. I want to suggest that this raises a number of serious questions that I would like the Minister of Health to address either now or in his third reading speech because this is raising concerns in our communities. Where these poisons exist a need exists for a service that is supported by professionals and that is able to respond immediately.This proposal to roll these services into one service one helpline has been parodied on TV. I am aware of a parody that literally imagines a scenario where the line is called and it says: “If you would like to speak toHealthline press 1. If you would like to speak toQuitline press 2. If you would like to speak to the Alcohol Drug Helpline press 3. If you would like to speak to the National Depression Initiative press 4. If you would like to speak to problem gambling support press 5. And if your child is frothing at the mouth and unconscious press 6 and please hold for the operator.” This is anabominable thought. It is truly unacceptable that we would get to that point where people were waiting for such a service where people were not able to immediately access the service. This service which supported the legislation that the Government consulted on—this particular service that the Government consulted in the formation of the Psychoactive Substances Act and in the legislation we are passing through the House now—and which the users of these substances have regularly used is under threat. Its funding is only $1.5 million a year from the Government and yet it maintains a database that together with the service costs around $2.8 million a year. The data is constantly being updated.This service is under threat. I would urge members of the public watching this debate who are concerned about the 0800 POISON service going—for all of the advice that is provided post-9/11 on chemical threats for all of the advice it provides every day for addicts and for those people who have swallowed unidentified items—to contact the Minister of Health to express their concern. The current process that is being engaged in is called a constructive dialogue. At the start when this proposal was launched there was going to be a competitive tender process. That has since been shifted into what is called a constructive dialogue. That smells and looks a lot like a process that is opaque. That is worrying. We do not need cronyism in this aspect of our reform. There may well be some economies of scale to be gained by rolling many of these services together but it seems highly unlikely that rolling in the 0800 POISON service makes sense.Clause 1 agreed to.Clause 2 agreed to.Clause 3 agreed to.Clause 4 agreed to.Clause 5 agreed to.Clause 6 agreed to.Clause 7 agreed to.Clause 8 agreed to.Schedule agreed to.Bill reported without amendment.Report adopted.