Stewart Barbara: Psychoactive Substances Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeStewart Barbara: Psychoactive Substances Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 06 May 2014. Volume:698;Page:17519. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]BARBARA STEWART (NZ First): I stand on behalf of New Zealand First to take a call on the Psychoactive Substances Amendment Bill. We all know in this House that psychoactive substances are a blight on New Zealand society and at long last this legislation will take these products off the shelves. There is little doubt thatParliament—and we are accepting our role in this—made an error with the previous legislation. We should have included a safety requirement in the legislation that these substances be proven to be safe prior to being available for sale and of course we should have had an animal welfare aspect in it as well. We are pleased that amendments have been made and we are committed to ensuring that this bill passes through the House as soon as possible so that these products can be taken off the shelves and right away from young people.Legal high manufacturers and resellers should definitely not be rolling in profits while the users are becoming a burden on our health system and experiencing dangerous withdrawals and terrible effects and of course many of them are committing crimes in our neighbourhood so that they can continue to purchase these substances. It is just not good enough. None of this should ever have happened. This legislation should be right at this particular time and we are very pleased that urgency has been accorded to this particular legislation.Ironically we heard through the select committee process for the original bill how difficult it was to remove all of the products from sale and off the shelves. We will not deny that this is not easy. It never is easy but at last today we have actually done something in this Parliament. We are pleased that urgency has been accorded to this particular bill. We have had so many constituents coming to our offices almost daily to tell of their trials and tribulations with these products. We have heard from parents at their wits’ end unable to keep their families functioning. It has been so sad.New Zealand First believes that the Government now owes it to the people of our country to ensure that there are dedicated services for people whose lives have been negatively impacted by the presence of legal highs—addiction services and counselling for parents and families who want to get their lives back on track. This has been a terrible experiment. We guarantee that there is a need for these services back in the community. It is not easy for anyone and it will not be easy for anyone until these addictive substances are out of the system of everybody who is taking them.When the Psychoactive Substances Bill was passed in Parliament we all believed that it was going to prevent the kinds of harm that our communities are experiencing. We have been too slow basically in removing these products from sale but we are pleased that the day has come when they are removed. To that end we are very glad to be here today to fix the mess that has been created while we waited for the law to take effect. I was delighted to hear the Hon Tony Ryall say that from Thursday these products will not be available for sale in any shop in New Zealand.We are absolutely rapt to hear that manufacturers have to prove that their products are safe and that no animals are going to be unduly tested to ensure that the products are safe. “Low risk” is a subjective term that we do have some qualms about and if that term is not changed perhaps the legislation will be back in Parliament again so that we can change it. We cannot afford to again expose our people in New Zealand to products that are not safe. These products need to undergo a testing regime that is similar to the pharmaceutical regime—very thorough and very detailed. We also support the new laws that prevent any information from animal testing being used for recreational drugs. This should really set a precedent for the future and alternatives to animal testing must be explored now with this legislation.In closing we are very happy in New Zealand First to finally see some progress which we hope will immediately benefit the people who are putting themselves in danger by using these untested psychoactive substances. New Zealand First has said very strongly right from the beginning that we believe that these products need to be banned. It is important for action to be swift. We are delighted that it is and hopefully by the end of the day we will know and can rest assured that from Thursday we will ensure that our communities and our people are safe right through New Zealand.