Clark DavidMISUSE OF DRUGS AMENDMENT BILLIn CommitteePart 1 Amendments to principal ActHon Dr DAVID CLARK (Minister of Health): This bill makes three key changes. The first is that it will classify AMB-FUBINACA and 5F-ADB as class A drugs. It also affirms the existing police discretion for personal possession and use drug offences and it also enables temporary class drug orders to be issued to better control emerging and potentially harmful substances. The bill itself is a key step in putting in place a health-based approach to drug use recognising that those people caught in the web of addiction are more likely in most cases to need a therapeutic approach when the wider public interest is taken into account bearing in mind that of course there will be times when it is more appropriate for the police to prosecute if they deem the public interest falls that way. The increase in opportunities for health and social services to be provided is something that the Government is firmly focused on and indeed has invested heavily in in the recent Budget. I just want to say briefly something about each of those three key changes and Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) 288 which I have brought before the committee. Firstly the classification of the two aforementioned drugs AMB-FUBINACA and 5F-ADB—these drugs are a major health problem. Since 2017 in June there have been a total of 50 to 55 deaths provisionally linked to the use of these two dangerous synthetic drugs and the bill simply classifies them as class A drugs to reflect the high risk of harm that these drugs cause. It gives the police and customs search and seizure powers greater than they otherwise would have which means that they're able to disrupt supply and reduce the availability of these drugs. Now these police powers are part of a health-based approach. Interrupting supply and manufacture is critical if you want to take a health-based approach. The police discretion the second thing that's involved here—the bill specifies that when considering whether a prosecution is required in the public interest for drug possession and use consideration should be given as to whether a therapeutic approach would be more beneficial. The SOP I'm bringing to the House does then further add the words to the public interest"—beneficial to the public interest—and that is just to be absolutely clear. This is not about when police are deciding whether or not to bring a prosecution whether it's good for that individual but they're looking at the wider public interest. There were some submissions to the select committee that seemed to assume that what was being meant there was a focus on the individual's personal interests—who was the person caught as a user caught in the web of addiction and being brought to justice—rather than looking at the wider public interest. I do want to thank as we work through all these issues the coalition and confidence and supply partners and the conversations we've had. This particular clarification comes in consultation with our coalition partner and I want to thank them for the constructive role they played in making sure we have this clear and of course the strong push for a health-based approach is also firmly supported by the Green Party and I want to acknowledge that. So the third thing that we're doing here is putting temporary drug class orders in place which enables the Minister of the day to issue a drug order that effectively makes sure that these dangerous synthetic drugs or any drugs are classified as class C controlled drugs—or treated the same essentially—for a period of 12 months. We know the drug market—in particular the synthetic drug market—evolves rapidly and we want to make sure that we're able to respond quickly to potentially harmful new synthetic drugs. Then the Minister must seek advice from the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs which considers classification issues and decide then whether and under what schedule the substances should be classified longer term. I'll leave my initial contribution there. I do think this is a good bill. It allows us to progress a health-based approach and strikes a balance making sure that we are actually going harder on those peddling these very dangerous drugs—the suppliers and the manufacturers—than has previously been the case to ensure the police have the search and seizure powers necessary but it also looks at the public interest and whether it's sensible for those who are users to be offered a therapeutic approach."