Dean Jacqui: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Dean Jacqui: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 21 February 2007. Volume:637;Page:7546. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
10.  
JACQUI DEAN (National—Otago) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Health 
: When will he put his recommendations on the regulation of BZP pills before Cabinet and does he believe that this timeline is satisfactory given that people like Ben Rodden continue to suffer life-threatening reactions after taking BZP pills? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON (Associate Minister of Health) 
: 
 The consultation process on the possible classification of benzylpiperazine and related substances closes on 23 March. I expect to put my recommendations on any further regulation of benzylpiperazine before Cabinet no later than May. That time frame is based on legal advice and natural justice requirements that if not followed would inevitably lead to legal challenge in regard to the administered decision-making process that was followed. I am of course concerned about Ben Rodden—I am meeting with his parents in my electorate office this weekend. But it is precisely life-threatening situations like the one he is in that I was warning New Zealanders about in December when I made public the advice of the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs that it has assessed benzylpiperazine as having a moderate level of harm which included the possibility of seizures. 
Jacqui Dean 
: Given the Minister’s delays in announcing a ban and progressing it to Cabinet is he worried that in the meantime manufacturers are developing and marketing further psychoactive drugs that he admits he knows nothing about? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: I admit no such thing nor have I done so. I am fully aware that an industry that makes $30 million a year by selling substances that many of the people who buy have no idea exactly what is in them will resist any attempt to stop it making that $30 million a year. This Government has an evidence-based and led system of drug regulation. I am bound by law—not that the member seems to notice that—to follow due process. That is exactly what I am doing and it is the fastest way to get a result. If we followed the member’s advice we would be in difficulty for years because we had not followed due process. 
Sue Moroney 
: Has the Minister seen any reports on party pills other than the report from the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: Yes I have seen many reports some of which are in relation to the concern of the member for Otago about the potential harm to young people. In some reports she wants the pills to be regulated and in some she wants them to be banned—I am not sure which is which. But when the member was given the opportunity to make a difference with regard to the most debilitating drug in this country for young people—alcohol—she voted against raising the purchase age of drink to 20 years. 
Gordon Copeland 
: Will the Minister beyond 23 March be asking for an assessment of the health consequences of benzylpiperazine including having more strictly controlled and regulated party pills with the dosage and ingredients clearly marked and labelled versus an outright ban on benzylpiperazine; if so what does he expect the result of that assessment to be; if not will he undertake such a comparative assessment? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: The increased regulations around benzylpiperazine or so-called party pills—for example no sale to those aged under 18 and no electronic or print media advertising—are a result of recommendations that I took to my Cabinet colleagues and to this House. The proposal for further regulation comes as a result of the advice of the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs to me. After four research programmes that this Government commissioned—and no other research programmes were available anywhere in the world—the committee indicated that in its opinion there are inherently serious and adverse effects from the use of benzylpiperazine-based party pills. That is what the consultation process which I am bound by statute to follow is now about. As soon as the results of that consultation come before me I will be asking officials for advice on that consultation and reporting to my Cabinet colleagues and to this House taking the most expeditious route that I can possibly manage to take. 
Jacqui Dean 
: Why is the Minister refusing to act swiftly given that this Government managed to pass retrospective legislation to validate election spending within 24 hours; when will he follow through on his promise to tighten up the controls on benzylpiperazine pills? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: I certainly would not have followed the practice of the National Party which took years not to reclassify methamphetamine. This Government did that in very quick order. We are following the fastest process that we can under the law. The member of course has no experience in executive government and therefore clearly does not understand the processes that we have to follow. Hopefully she will never get such experience so this Government can continue to do the right thing. 
Jacqui Dean 
: Does the Minister agree with Dr John Fountain and Dr Paul Gee of Christchurch Hospital who question whether it is necessary “to await an outcome such as severe illness neurological damage or death before risk of harm is established”; if so why is he allowing the sale and use of benzylpiperazine pills to continue? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: Because in New Zealand we follow a rule-of-law process. But the member might like to reflect on this fact. Cigarettes kill 4700 people a year in New Zealand. I am awaiting a submission from the member to say that this Government should ban cigarettes tomorrow but she keeps talking about benzylpiperazine. 
Jacqui Dean 
: How can the Minister reassure young people that when they are taking legal benzylpiperazine pills they are not also inadvertently taking illicit substances with them such as methylenedioxy-methyl amphetamine or Ecstasy; what does he plan to do about this new and potentially dangerous development in the drug scene? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: Firstly when asking an old conservative on drugs like me what people should do about drugs the answer is: “Don’t take them.” and I say that often. The best use of benzylpiperazine or any other drug is no use at all. But the member may be surprised to know that the manufacture sale or promulgation of drugs like Ecstasy is illegal. It is a class B1 drug. People end up in prison for a very long time. Whether people call something benzylpiperazine a party pill or a herbal high will not protect them from the law if they deal in illicit drugs. 
Jacqui Dean 
: When is the Minister going to stop wasting time by attacking this member and start attacking the real issue of the growing drug culture in New Zealand? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: I will stop right now by not answering silly questions like that. 
Metiria Turei 
: I seek leave to table two documents. The first is an article from the  
New Zealand Medical Journal  
dated February 2007 and showing that party pills have not had a major impact on the overdose database of Auckland City Hospital as compared with alcohol which is responsible for more than half the admissions for overdoses. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Metiria Turei 
: In addition I seek leave to table a Ministry of Health report prepared for the Minister and released under the Official Information Act which shows that natural justice is needed to make sure that all stakeholders are consulted on any decision to ban these drugs and that the long-term effects of a ban may well lead to young people increasing their use of alcohol tobacco and illegal substances. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.