Wall Louisa: Psychoactive Substances Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWall Louisa: Psychoactive Substances Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 09 July 2013. Volume:692;Page:11820. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]LOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa):It is my pleasure to speak to Part 3which is really about the controls around how approved substances can be purchased enforcement matters and regulation-making powers particularly of local communities.I just want to pick up on the point about clause 46 and contrast that with clause 63. I think we were all clear from the evidence that the police presented to us of the compelling reason why we in the end enabled them through an offence to engage with those under 18. It was primarily because if you are under 18 it does not matter whether or not the substance in your possession is regulated or unregulated. The reality is that if you are under 18 you should not have these substances at all. So that was the primary reason we created an offence with the maximum penalty of a fine of $500—to provide the police with the tools so that they could engage specifically with young people and hopefully work with those young people identify the young people at risk and then provide the services to help them and assist them given their age.For the over-18s the police again were very clear that it would be very difficult for them to determine the difference between an approved substance and an unapproved substance which is why we did get consensus in our Health Committee to delete that particular section of the bill. And it is for the Government to determine. It wanted some congruency. I guess technically if you are over 18 and you have got an unregulated substance then maybe it should be a fine. But the reality from what the police told us is that this is going to be very difficult to implement. It may be a law on the books but actually in practice it is going to be very difficult to prosecute anybody because of the testing regime.I wanted to also highlight clause 47 of the bill. Our emphasis again is in the right place. If you sell to somebody under 18 and you provide that product to an under-18-year-old you will be fined $5000. If you sell that product and you belong to an organisation—so you are technically a body corporate—you will be fined $10000. I think they are a very good signal to the community. It is a very good signal particularly to dairy owners or anybody who is in possession of these substances thinking that they can sell them after this legislation goes through. So we are obviously very pleased with those particular aspects in Part 3.I now want to highlight clauses 52A and 53. For me these are wonderful because they also show some congruency with tobacco legislation. We will not let these substances become substances that are associated with sports for example because we will not allow them to sponsor different events and there will be no advertising [Interruption]—Trevor are you going to tell me that I have not got much time—of these products on TV radio or newspapers.I do have a question for the Minister. Clause 53A of the bill is very very specific and it was put into this piece of legislation to absolutely deal with the issue that we have in Manurewa. On the main street at the same place as a bus stop where young people travel to and from school between two primary schools we have a High Zone or a legal highs shop. The advertising around that property is absolutely outrageous in the middle of our community. What this clause does is say that there is a “Restriction on retailer’s name using words expressions or trademarks etc associated with approved products”. What I want some guarantee about from the Minister is that the day after this gets assent and becomes law it becomes illegal for that shop to advertise the products in the manner that it does and I want to make sure of that not only for myself but also my community.I want to acknowledge Angela Dalton who is the chair of the Manurewa Local Board. I want to acknowledge Toa Greening Colleen Brown and Simeon Brown who all made submissions. We are all trying as hard we can to help protect our community so I particularly would like some comment about what tools are available to them to immediately ensure that this particular provision empowers them to shut down the advertising around that particular shop.Finally I do also want to highlight clause 61A of the bill which is empowering our local communities to approve where our products can be sold. I mean this is very much—Hon Judith Collins: Come on we’ll never get through.LOUISA WALL: —Hon Judith Collins—in the same thinking as the local alcohol policies. I am here to support this bill after being a member of this committee and I thank you very much. Kia ora.