Cheung CarlosDr CARLOS CHEUNG (National—Mt Roskill): Before I start my speech I would like to acknowledge all the members of the Health Committee for their time and effort on this bill and also for their constructive feedback as well. This is a perfect example of members of Parliament working together to achieve the best outcome for all New Zealanders. Let's go back to this bill.This bill reclassifies pseudoephedrine from a class B2 to a class C3 drug controlled drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 so that the cold and flu products containing pseudoephedrine can be sold in pharmacies without a prescription. This allows New Zealanders access to one of the most effective cold and flu medicines and will help to improve people's welfare when they are unwell. So during the select committee process we received submissions from 169 individuals and nine organisations. Most organisations including pharmaceutical industry boards and drug harm prevention groups indicated support for this bill in their submissions. As an elected MP I also go the extra mile to gather more information and feedback from my local pharmacies and pharmacists. The overall feedback is very positive and they are supportive of this bill. I also need to acknowledge there's some concern raised by the pharmacists and pharmacy owners as well.So one of the major concerns may be the production of meth using pseudoephedrine. So actually during the select committee process we have been informed that there is little value to people interested in commercially supplying meth and there are now cheaper and easier ways to manufacture it. This means that making pseudoephedrine products more available will have little effect on the New Zealand drug market. This position is also supported by advice we received from the Ministry of Health which consulted with the New Zealand Police the New Zealand Customs Service and the National Drug Intelligence Bureau.Also another concern is about the safety of pharmacists of it being misused. But let me remind everyone here pseudoephedrine will remain a controlled drug and can only be prescribed by an authorised pharmacist prescriber who has undergone the required training and education. This will equip pharmacists with tools to identify and refuse service to anyone showing the intent to improper use of pseudoephedrine. Furthermore according to this bill the importation of pseudoephedrine by mail and online shipping will also rightly remain unlawful.Also we got a lot of concern on how to assess the safety for pharmacists as well. So we've been informed that pharmacists are not required to stock pseudoephedrine products and we support pharmacists' rights to make this choice. We trust pharmacists to make judgments about what is best for them and their customers.Also we were talking about monitoring the sales of pseudoephedrine products. We are pleased to learn that the Ministry of Health is working with Health New Zealand to explore options for improving the uptake and standardisation of a nationwide electronic dispensing system. This allows us to monitor the sales of pseudoephedrine products in real time and that can minimise the improper use of the drugs.Therefore I think this bill actually strikes the right balance between accessing and protecting the public against improper use. Therefore I'm here to support this bill. Thank you.