Simpson Scott: Substance Addiction (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSimpson Scott: Substance Addiction (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 15 March 2016. Volume:712;Page:9713. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): One of the fascinating things that occurs when one becomes a member of Parliament is that you learn things. Members of Parliament have an opportunity to hear information to absorb information and to participate in decision making in a way that others sometimes do not. On the Health Committee we get an opportunity to do that very frequently in areas that are difficult and sometimes contentious. They are areas that sometimes transcend the moral the ethical and the medical. It is judging the fine line and the balance between those competing and sometimes conflicting priorities for individuals and the State that makes decision making difficult and complicated for us as members of Parliament.This piece of legislation is very timely; in fact it is probably well overdue. I have been very impressed with the careful considered contributions of all members across the House this evening in this first reading debate. I think it is an example of Parliament working at its best when we consider these delicate sensitive but important issues as carefully and as well as we have this evening.This bill has its genesis in some very good work that was done by the Law Commission back in 2010. It seeks to update replace and modernise the principal Act which goes back to 1966. Of course that was a long time ago; so much has changed since 1966 with the way that medicine treatment and even the causes of addiction have transformed people’s lives. Back in the mid-60s most people were concerned with the drugs in fashion at the time and now we find that all these years later those drugs still exist they still inflict harm and damage upon people but now they have been added to by a huge range of more complicated more horrendous and more damaging drugs which cause even greater harm to society and of course to the individuals who become addicted.The question that the Health Committee really will need to address when it considers this piece of legislation and when it hears from submitters is where the balance is in the responsibility of the State to intervene in an individual’s life when that individual either cannot or will not for whatever reason be in a position to address those issues for themselves. At what point do we find that it is right and proper for the State and us as responsible members of society to intervene upon the sacrosanct rights of individuals to make their own decisions in a way that affects them personally?This change in mental health and addiction treatment that has occurred since the principal Act was introduced way back in 1966 is going to be very important not only for the people who find themselves in a situation where they need help and assistance today whether or not they know it but also for those who are yet to come ahead because sadly the scourge of drugs and addiction is going to be with us for a very long time—probably for the rest of time as we know it. So it is right and proper that this Parliament addresses these issues.It is a technical but complicated ethical piece of legislation but it is something that we as politicians and members of the New Zealand Parliament need to get our heads around in an intelligent informed and careful way. I am very confident that under the very capable chairmanship of Simon O’Connor the Health Committee and other members will be able to do that. I commend this bill to the House.