Blue Jackie: Misuse of Drugs (Classification of BZP) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Blue Jackie: Misuse of Drugs (Classification of BZP) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 13 March 2008. Volume:645;Page:14944. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Dr JACKIE BLUE (National) 
: 
 The National Party is supporting the Misuse of Drugs (Classification of BZP) Amendment Bill. The bill seeks to change the classification of benzylpiperazine (BZP) from a class D to a class C1 drug and also seeks to provide a 6-month amnesty for the drug. 
The bill has been a long time coming and I congratulate my colleague Jacqui Dean on keeping the pressure on. It is great that this bill will finally be passed today. BZP has already been banned in the United States Japan Australia Denmark and Sweden. In March 2007 the UK regulator warned that selling pills that contain BZP was illegal and that people should not take these pills as there were considerable health risks. The World Anti-Doping Agency has banned BZP in competitive sport. With the passage of this bill today we are simply getting into step with the rest of the world. 
I was part of the Health Committee that heard the various submissions from the public. There were 52 submissions 16 of which were oral submissions. They came from a whole variety of groups ranging from party pill manufacturers and the party pill industry to researchers community groups individuals and our own National MP Jacqui Dean. Fourteen submissions supported the bill and 38 were opposed. 
The Health Committee placed a lot of weight on the evidence of the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs which assessed BZP in 2004 and 2006. In 2004 it recommended that BZP should be regulated but in 2006 the committee reviewed further information and felt that the new studies confirmed that in fact BZP had caused potentially fatal seizures. The committee classed it as causing moderate harm and recommended the change of classification to C1. The Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs again reassessed BZP in May last year and reaffirmed its position that it should be a class C1 drug. 
The Health Committee heard three petitions in conjunction with the bill: two were in support of the bill—one from my own colleague Jacqui Dean—and the third one was against it. The committee heard many many arguments that the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs had not assessed BZP thoroughly or that it had not defined what constitutes a moderate risk and so forth. But we were reassured that this was not the case; in fact the deliberations of the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs were very thorough. There were concerns regarding the robustness of the research that was presented to the Health Committee but we were reassured again that the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs had looked at this extensively and the assessment was thorough and not biased at all. 
There was a lot of concern over public implications of BZP. Opponents took the opportunity to cite alcohol and cigarettes as a comparison and they have been used as examples today. A number cited concerns that prohibition would drive the industry underground and gangs would flourish and argued that the use of BZP reduced the demand for dangerous drugs like P and the use of alcohol. In the first reading of the bill my colleague Jacqui Dean elaborated on the social consequences of BZP continuing to be sold legally in New Zealand. She quite rightly pointed out that the regulation of BZP has not decreased the use of drugs like P as evidenced by the increase in the number of P laboratory busts that have occurred recently. 
There is clear evidence that BZP is a gateway drug. BZP pills are very colourful-looking pills designed to attract youth and indeed they have a certain appeal to younger children. At the end of the day we do not know what the downstream effects of these party pills are; they are very new and I say to members that we should be taking a responsible stance in the face of uncertainty in order to protect our youth and our children in the future. The argument was used in the Health Committee that alcohol and tobacco are far more dangerous and should be illegal. But the fact is that both those products have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years and both are controlled by their own legislative frameworks. I cannot help but go back to my earlier comments that the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs assessed BZP not once not twice but three times very thoroughly and very carefully and it has reaffirmed its position not once but twice that BZP should be a class C1 drug and that it causes moderate harm. Members of the advisory committee are experts and it would be a very silly Ministry of Health or Minister who ignored their advice. 
I would like to acknowledge Paul Hutchison who attempted to introduce a Supplementary Order Paper that proposed that the legislation should be reviewed in 2 years and 6 months’ time. That seemed a very sensible Supplementary Order Paper and it is regrettable that it was not accepted at the time. The National Party listened to all the arguments and we listened to my colleague Jacqui Dean who has been passionate about this issue since she became an MP. We support the arguments and we support the passage of this bill. Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker.