Verrall AyeshaHon Dr AYESHA VERRALL (Labour): Mr Speaker thank you. It's a pleasure to take a call on this bill to amend the Misuse of Drugs Act to reclassify pseudoephedrine as a class C3 drug from a class B2 drug thereby along with the changes to how pseudoephedrine is regulated under the Medicines Act making the medicine available over the counter.I too have responded to media queries like the Associate Minister of Health (Pharmac) has today and it is interesting to me that after being involved in the COVID response some journalists have taken a peculiar interest in my health and when I last had a case of the sniffles. It's been over 10 years since I used pseudoephedrine for a cough and cold because obviously it wasn't available after 2011 but I did and I have to say I liked it. As a medicine for a common cough and cold it is OK it is good—studies bear that out. It has some side effects like cardiac side effects but it's useful for the treatment of common coughs and colds. Sensible measures to make medicines that are convenient for common symptoms should be promoted.As a Government the Labour Party really led a number of initiatives to change that to improve the ability of our pharmacies to give treatments for common conditions. This included the minor ailments scheme that we brought in over winter to make sure that common conditions even as simple as nits or skin conditions could be treated by pharmacies conveniently without having to go for a prescription to a doctor thereby taking work away from overburdened general practitioners and making conditions be resolved more quickly. In addition we brought in changes that meant a number of vaccines could be given in pharmacies where they weren't before. We support these types of practical changes that make medicine more accessible to people.But there is another dimension to pseudoephedrine and that is that one of the reasons why we like to take it for coughs and colds is actually in the heart of what its downside is: it also has stimulatory effects it also peps us up when we're feeling sick and run down and shivery and that allows us to keep doing all the things we have to do in our busy life. It's that characteristic as well as its good effects as a decongestant that giving you that little bit of pep that is the same characteristic that means it's also a drug of abuse and can be used to produce methamphetamine.That was why in 2009 John Key's National Government brought in changes to the regulations that restricted the sale of meth—the ones we're debating today and the Medicines Act changes. I want to share some of the quotes that John Key made at the time and it gets back to this very issue of the dual properties of pseudoephedrine: What seems like straightforward pain and symptom relief to you and me is gold to a drug cook. It's just about all a first time P cook needs to get their drug enterprise started." He went on to say "it's a $1.5 billion problem it's wrecking lives and it's wrecking families... As a parent I can tell you … obviously you worry about your children." And he made no apologies for how tough he was going to be: it's "why [this Government] … come[s] at the problem from all directions. By cracking down on precursors breaking supply chains providing better routes into treatment" and so on.So my question in addressing this bill and I think what the Parliament and the Health Committee needs to turn its mind to is: what's changed? Meth hasn't gone away are we giving up on this issue? How do we evaluate these very valid safety concerns that communities and pharmacies in particular have?Now the Minister has said that this will be unlikely to impact the supply of methamphetamine in New Zealand. Well it will have an effect on pharmacies. For over a decade they will have not been the targets of ram raids due to pseudoephedrine and they could be once again. I haven't heard compelling evidence that there are reasons why that won't be the case. It's very important for us to be able to go over that evidence at select committee. Pharmacists have raised the issue of whether or not they can access registers in order to make sure that we can pick up on instances of abuse if that happens. It's not clear to me if the restricted classification of the medicines will lead to a register being in place. We need the chance also to hear from drug experts addiction specialists and pharmacologists. The Labour Party will be supporting this bill to the Health Committee. We think it has some merits but we have many questions as well."