Menéndez March RicardoRICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green): Thank you Madam Speaker. It's a pleasure and privilege to speak to the Misuse of Drugs (Pseudoephedrine) Amendment Bill and this is a bill that we're supporting. I want to reflect that I by no means am the only person with a close family history of having loved ones who have abused meth but I'm certainly one of those people who has really really close experience with family members having been addicted to meth and I've seen firsthand the harm and the destruction of life that this substance can cause. Because of that it's incredibly clear to me how the criminalisation of substances hasn't worked to actually support people neither to stop getting them addicted nor as part of the recovery journey. Growing up in Tijuana in basically the heart of the war on drugs I've seen firsthand how the war on drugs and the war on meth more specifically has failed.So this bill presents an opportunity to actually change the debate to one that centres our conversation on issues around public health on how we can actually take an evidence-based approach to support people so that they're not ravaged by the harm that substances like meth can cause in our communities. This bill alone won't actually end that harm but what it will do is prevent people from actually being further criminalised and being put into a cycle where they're left at risk of poor outcomes because of the harms that incarceration causes.Yet I think where the gap lies—and I want to acknowledge submitters who raised issues of this nature—is around ensuring that we have adequate addiction support services making sure that we actually address some of the social determinants of health that continue being completely not addressed such as good incomes good housing connected communities. Those are the things that actually create protective factors for people to not face the harms that substances can cause. And it is not to say that if you've got good incomes and good housing you're completely immune to say for example being harmed by meth but those things actually go a long way to preventing people from having their lives destroyed because of substances. Also when you don't have good incomes and good housing you're way more at risk of meth actually ruining your life. So this bill will at least prevent a degree of criminalisation that would've caused more harm.I think to the point around some of the speakers who've talked about how pharmacists will be at the front lines of the change in how pseudoephedrine is accessed I think it's really important to recognise the role of pharmacies as front-line health services who are actually sometimes the first and often the only point of call for our communities—particularly those on low incomes formerly incarcerated people gang-affiliated communities—to deal with health services. Yes pharmacists will be the ones who will be at the front lines supporting our communities through this change and therefore we need a Government that backs pharmacists to actually be resourced to then deliver these substances to the community and to deliver health services to the community in a way that remains safe. We know as it is pharmacies and the pharmacists that run them are under increased pressure yet have the potential to actually take the pressure off other parts of our health system.I want to end by reflecting that the approach that has been taken on pseudoephedrine and particularly in its relationship to meth is one that I think the Government should look at with other substances. We should take a consistent evidence- and health-based approach to drugs. We shouldn't just cherry-pick the one that has a populist tone to it and actually make sure that we look at the same evidence that we use for this bill and translate it to the other substances that are wreaking havoc in our community because we've chosen to criminalise it. To some of the Government members who spoke about for example the importing of substances due to cartel activity there are opportunities to curb some of that by ensuring we take a health approach to substances. So my ask of this Government by having a bill that many of us in the House can get behind is to follow suit and actually look at all the other substances that we criminalised and put a health lens to them so that we can support our communities and stop people becoming incarcerated and their lives being ruined because of an outdated approach to drugs.