Stewart Barbara: Psychoactive Substances Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeStewart Barbara: Psychoactive Substances Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 09 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9142. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]BARBARA STEWART (NZ First): I stand on behalf of New Zealand First today to support the Psychoactive Substances Bill. This bill has been a long time coming to this House and we are really pleased that at last it is finally here. We need to front up to the problems caused by these legal highs. We know that actually they are happening right across the whole country and we are looking forward to working on this legislation.We in New Zealand First have regularly consistently urged the Government to actually make a start on this legislation and we realise of course that this particular problem is a worldwide challenge. Week in week out we see reports of these substances leading people into crime. I know that in Hamilton I regularly get reports and I have no doubt that two other MPs from Hamilton David Bennett and Tim Macindoe also get the same reports. Sometimes these are—Kris Faafoi: They don’t read them though.BARBARA STEWART: —oh people come into our offices to tell us too—whether they are about petty offences or more serious crimes in the community. The effect that these substances have on one’s physical mental and social well-being are widely documented and I know there was a television documentary on it just recently.Under current legislation the Government has had very limited means to prevent these substances from being sold manufactured or even imported into New Zealand. Basically what has happened is that we have been putting these manufacturers ahead of the health and well-being of everyday New Zealanders and of course there has been a high cost on the health system.These companies have been able to bring in new legal highs and herbal highs or manufacture them just at will. The Government has had to continually try to monitor these drugs to try to protect New Zealanders. Each substance has had to be placed on the Misuse of Drugs Act when it became a problem. Consequently the Government has always been left two steps behind the legal high industry. It is timely that this situation was changed. We cannot afford as a country to be behind on this particular issue.So of course the health and safety of New Zealanders particularly young New Zealanders is a priority in this area for New Zealand First. A lot of the time nobody really knows what is in these substances or the effects that they have on people. We are very happy that this bill is going to change this situation. It needed to be changed.Legal highs are often marketed blind without the purchaser knowing what they contain. However we do know that these products encourage dangerous behaviour and can make people seriously ill and even endanger their lives not only in the short term but also in the long term. We always read stories in the newspaper about how easy these drugs are to actually obtain. Recently theNelson Mail reported that a dairy near a high school was selling legal highs to students and minors. This is totally appalling particularly when these under-age pupils would have gone into the dairy in their school uniforms to make the purchase. We also had a recent example where the legal highs were being sold at a dairy and free sweets were given away with the purchase. So something definitely has to be done.These substances are increasingly associated with mental health issues. Over the past few years we have seen a growing number of violent incidents and mental health issues presenting at emergency departments around the country and these synthetic drugs can be related directly to this violence. We have had paramedics speaking out about the legal highs and how these are beginning to be a much greater problem for New Zealanders than illicit drugs. We know what some of the problems are with people on these legal highs from being hyperexcited to psychotic and emotional. We had oneNelson paramedic saying that hyperventilation was becoming quite common after someone had taken these particular drugs. Of course we have got other instances of episodes where patients have had convulsions periods of unconsciousness and seizures—they are not safe. It is timely for the Government to clamp down on this particular problem.New Zealand First also supports the tough new penalties that this bill will introduce: 8 years in prison for importing making or supplying banned substances and 2 years in prison for importing making or supplying untested substances. We do however—and we will follow it up in the select committee process—question the choice not to make possessing an unapproved substance a criminal offence. The individuals possessing the substances are putting themselves and others at great risk. We understand the decision not to criminalise the individuals possessing the substances is because so many young people do not want to jeopardise their job and their travel prospects but people under this bill will actually be committing an offence.Like the other members we believe that the purchasing and the advertising restrictions of legal highs are a little less than adequate and could go further. We will be looking for that during the select committee process. We in New Zealand First have always supported greater transparency for consumers. We would however take some extra steps in restricting the purchasing of these—more than what the Minister has done at this point in time. We believe that these highs should be further restricted than alcohol rather than being aligned with alcohol.The bill will ban sales at dairies and advertising except at point of sale. We would actually like to see a step further to prohibit advertising altogether and look into increasing the age for purchasing psychoactive substances—18 we believe is totally inadequate. Perhaps we could look further at the plain packaging of these products. As other members have already said we would like price to be considered and perhaps an increase in the taxation of these particular items. They are not substances that we want to see all of our young people have free access to.We in New Zealand First support the provision to make manufacturers who wish to sell these legal highs in New Zealand pay an application fee and testing costs. This has been missing for far too long in this type of legislation and it should be done. Substance testing will ensure that the ingredients are safe for people to consume. At this point in time we do not know that they are. We worry about the effect that they are having on young developing brains.We are happy with the labelling restrictions that will require all products to have a label listing their active ingredients the phone number for the Poisons Centre and the contact details for the product’s New Zealand manufacturer or supplier. That brings it in line with other products that are currently on the market. Of course it also helps those who take these products to have a better idea of the dangers.Despite seeing some areas as lacking in the bill—and we are looking forward to working on them at the select committee as well—we believe that the positives of this bill actually far outweigh the negatives. This bill is a much-needed start regulating the use of psychoactive substances and something that we have been calling for like other parties for a long long time. We are looking forward to working on it and we will support this bill.