Simpson Scott: Psychoactive Substances Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSimpson Scott: Psychoactive Substances Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 02 July 2013. Volume:691;Page:11577. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel):As a member of the Health Committee it is a pleasure to take this final split call on the second reading of the Psychoactive Substances Bill. The bill is being sponsored by the new Associate Minister of Health Todd McClay but in my opening comments I would like to congratulate and give credit to the Hon Peter Dunne for his work in preparing this bill to bring it to the House and for the credible way in which he has developed it so that it represents a new and revolutionary way of addressing the pernicious dangers of so-called legal highs. This bill as Peter Dunne said in his speech earlier on in this debate will be a game-changer in the way we regulate party pills and other so-called legal highs. I support this bill and I congratulate both Peter Dunne and Todd McClay on bringing it to the House.The bill regulates psychoactive substances or legal highs so that substances have to be proved to be low risk before they can be sold. Cleaning up the legal high industry is part of this Government’s drive to deliver Better Public Services and this bill is all about safety—human safety. New Zealanders deserve to know that products available to them are safe and that they are not being put in harm’s way with untested risky unknown substances. The cost of testing these substances will also be borne by the manufacturers rather than the taxpayer. This bill will seamlessly replace the current temporary class drug notice regime which has until now worked reasonably effectively. This new bill when it becomes law will change that regime and replace it with a whole new level unknown in other places in the world so we will be a world leader.This bill includes provisions to establish a regulatory authority within the Ministry of Health and part of the ministry’s job will be to consider and approve or decline psychoactive substances. It will be required to issue a manufacturing code of practice; it will issue importation manufacturing and sales licences; and it will conduct post-marketing monitoring to audit and recall product if necessary. New Zealand has faced an acceleration in the development of these new recreational drugs. They are all over the place. They are in dairies and supermarkets. They are dreadful products that are being sold over the counter all over the country at the moment. The regulatory authority established by the bill will consider and approve or decline psychoactive substancesand it will assess the toxicological and clinical data for each product. But even if products meet that standard the Government will still be insisting that tight controls be in place around their availability. So from the day that this bill is enacted neighbourhood dairies will no longer be allowed to stock any such products and nor will sales to those aged under 18 be permitted.The bill has to a large degree been hijacked if I can put it that way by the issue of animal testing. Although everybody I think would accept and understand that animal testing is an issue and most people—probably all people—feel pretty strongly about it the bill provides that if there are suitable non-animal tests then they must and will be used. This bill is a response to the harm caused by untested products and the countervailing consideration here is human safety. I think that is a fact we should not lose sight of.One of the things that interest me is that in the select committee consideration of the bill we had unanimous approval for what I thought was a very sensible approach. Labour members bought into it. It seems to me that Labour’s science spokesman one David Shearer seems to have been rolled now by a faction within the Labour Party to change what is a very sensible piece of science and to turn it into an animal rights issue. That is detracting from the big picture here which is the harm and injury being done to mostly our young people. And so despite Labour members including Annette King all having been in favour of voting for that compromise it seems now that a faction within Labour has rolled David Shearer its science spokesman. For a serious mainstream political party to have been put in that position is clearly very worrying.This is a good bill. I support it. I commend it to the House. It is good legislation.Bill read a second time.