Wall LouisaLOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare. Tēnā tātou katoa. I rise to speak in favour of the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill. I want to highlight as the chair of the Health Committee that we are delighted to receive this bill. Why are we delighted to receive this bill? Because actually it takes a harm-minimisation treatment-prevention approach to what has been an issue that has traditionally been dealt with by our criminal justice system.I want to firstly also acknowledge that this whole process started in July 2018. I want to acknowledge the Chief Coroner at that time who reported that between 40 and 45 people had died as a result of taking synthetic cannabis. The Acting Prime Minister the Rt Hon Winston Peters actually asked the Ministers of Justice Corrections Police and Health and officials to consult and to come up with solutions to this problem. So I want to acknowledge his leadership and also that the process that outlined the current approach was not working. So this piece of legislation is a direct consequence of that.I also want to acknowledge Simeon Brown who does have a bill in the ballot. His solution is just to increase penalties and that sellers should go to jail. From our perspective that isn't a solution but he did bring that kaupapa to the House and I want to acknowledge him for that. So this whole definition of who is a seller is an issue. Currently if you have more than 56 grams which is the threshold you're deemed to be a seller. But what we've discerned through the process in fact is that 56 grams isn't a lot for a heavy user of these drugs—actually it might last them only a couple of days. So from our perspective having a response that will enable the police to use their discretion is absolutely the intention of this bill.The other intention of this bill is to provide the police with the tools so that the manufacturers and distributors of these drugs actually pay the penalty. They're the ones we want to see in prison not those who have health issues. So the police discretion to prosecute which people have talked extensively about tonight—I want to fiercely highlight that the police currently do have a discretion about whether or not to prosecute and I particularly want to focus on a programme or an initiative called Te Ara Oranga which is based in Northland. So I'm hoping that the people who represent our constituents in those areas understand that there is a current programme based in Northland that has seen the police refer 257 people to the district health board for addiction treatment.So this is an existing recognition within our system that we need a different response other than putting people through the criminal justice system. We actually need a health response and so far this year an organised crime operation in Auckland has resulted in 32 referrals to addiction services—again as opposed to going through the criminal justice system. Why might we want to do that? Because actually people going through the criminal justice system and ending up in prison costs us $110000 per annum per prisoner. That is not an investment. It's not an investment in those individuals or their whānau. What we're trying to do is absolutely completely reorient the system to make sure that people who are caught in possession of these drugs get the help and support that they need.We need look no further than the alcohol and other drug treatment court and I bring this up at this time because that has been—I'll call it—a disruption in the system. What that process did—and I want to acknowledge Judge Lisa Tremewan and Judge Emma Aitken—was in fact provide a mechanism within our justice system to support users who want to break their addictions. I want to highlight what that particular kaupapa was called. It was named by Dr Pita Sharples and I'll give him a bit of a shout-out. They called it Te Whare Whakapiki Wairua—the house that uplifts the spirit. I actually think what this piece of legislation is and I've just decided to title it myself as Te Pūnaha Tuma Tau"—sorry I can't even read my own writing—"Te Pūnaha Tūmā Tānui Whakapiki Wairua" is the public system that uplifts the spirit. So I think this is actually the beginning of addressing issues such as unconscious bias and why do I label it unconscious bias? Because what we have found out from a lot of the research done in this area is that those most affected by incarceration and engagement in the criminal justice system are Māori. One of the things I want to highlight is that of those people who are captured within the criminal justice system if you are Māori and aged between 17 and 25 you make up 37 percent of those convicted of the possession and use of illicit drugs. So this piece of legislation is fundamentally going to change the trajectory of those individuals. What we are attempting to do is to provide a health recourse for people who are found to have possession of drugs as opposed to putting them in the criminal justice system. Just some context for people: in the 2016 New Zealand Drug Harm Index our investment in the health system to provide people who needed treatment and addiction support was $78 million. Our investment in the justice system which includes police customs courts and prisons—as I've already highlighted—was $273 million per annum. If we can shift those two figures around we can actually provide an investment because what we know from our alcohol and other drug treatment court is that 60 percent of people who have gone through that process don't reoffend. It works. For people who have drug and alcohol addiction issues who get treatment it works. So we want that for everybody who is currently captured within a drug and alcohol addiction phenomenon for whatever reason that may be. I know from my own community experience that that's a lot of people who are homeless people who have mental health issues and people who have got unresolved abuse issues and one of the things that we've never admitted as a country is why people end up using drugs and alcohol and become addicted. A lot of them have never had an opportunity to be supported and so they take these drugs and alcohol and live in the situations they do because that is their existence. That has been their only life outcome. So what we're trying to do is shift the emphasis out of the criminal justice system and—I want to say explicitly and specifically—for Māori. People have talked about the disproportionate number of Māori in the criminal justice system and I actually think that the reorientation that this bill is going to implement through the development of for example guidelines that the police and the Ministry of Health will work on together—so it's not going to be random. The Opposition have made a point of saying that everybody's going to get off being prosecuted but that is not true because part of the process will be what services do these people need—these individuals who are caught with drugs—and how responsive is the system to meet those needs. But as I said before it's also going to help reorientate what currently is a non-investment. Putting $273 million into a justice system that incarcerates people is not an investment. What this bill is is an investment but it also—as I've highlighted—is starting to address why so many Māori and so many young Māori get trapped in these cycles of coming in and out of prison. I mean the most disgusting figure that I've seen is that after five years if you're a Māori 80 percent of you are back in prison. So what's the solution? This: keep them out of prison in the first place. I challenge the National Party to actually have a closer look at this bill because if that's what this bill does your not supporting it is actually treachery because you're assigning people to a life—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): Order! Please don't bring me into the debate. LOUISA WALL: —of misery. Kia ora."