Second drug testing bill passes first reading

The law allowing drug testing at festivals is set to expire in December but MPs are working on a bill to put in a permanent system.

In December 2020 Parliament passed the Drug and Substance Checking Legislation under urgency to temporarily legalise testing of drugs and substances at events.

Until then, services like KnowYourStuffNZ had been operating under the potential threat of possession charges for handling illegal substances for testing. 

Event organisers could also be charged for knowingly allowing their premises to be used for illegal activity by permitting testing to take place. 

That first bill created the Drug and Substance Checking Legislation Act 2020 which is set to expire in December this year. 

The first bill was introduced quickly so it could be put in place in time for the summer festival season of 2020 and it was always the Government's plan to introduce a more permanent solution so, the Drug and Substance Legislation Bill (No 2) was introduced on May 11. 

On May 18 the bill passed its first reading debate which normally includes the MP in charge summarising why the bill is needed. 

Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Health Andrew Little was the Associate Minister for Health Peeni Henare who said drug testing lets people make informed decisions. 

"During the new year period, KnowYourSuff asked people who used their services whether they still intended to take a drug once they knew it was a synthetic cathinone. Three-quarters of those people said that they would not take that drug," he said.

"These are people who had already purchased the drugs and had intended to consume them, but once they were informed about what they actually had, they chose to say no."

Under the current law, the Director-General of Health can appoint drug checking service providers and enable appointed providers to operate with legal certainty. This second bill will introduce a licencing system.

"The licensing system will make sure that anyone providing drug checking has accurate tests and is providing good, sound advice. There will be oversight provisions so that we can be confident that everything is fit for purpose. If there are significant problems, the licence can be suspended or cancelled, if necessary," said Henare. 

Licenced drug and substance testing services will be able to:

• Give information on harm reduction advice to help people make informed decisions about drug use

• Test a drug or substance to figure out what it is and what it is made up of

• Return a drug or substance to whoever gave it up for testing 

• Dispose of any samples surrendered for testing 

• Dispose of and drug or substance given up by someone who no longer wants to keep it

Henare said there are strong benefits from drug checking including providing a point of contact with people who wouldn't normally access official information channels. 

"If drug checking shows that a person has MDMA, for example, they are told about the risks of MDMA. They are told how to reduce those risks—for example, by not taking other drugs at the same time. They are never told that MDMA is a safe drug," he said.

"It can be difficult to get health advice to people who consume drugs. They don't always trust official advice. They can be afraid to ask for help because they are afraid of prosecution. Drug-checking services provide honest and non-judgmental advice which can reduce risk and help people avoid serious trouble."

At a first reading debate, other MPs will indicate whether or not they, and their party, will support the bill.

The National Party oppose the bill and National MP Simon Bridges said his views haven’t changed much since the first bill was passed last year. 

"I referenced several studies before. What they, in summary, indicate is, firstly, that by pill testing we provide a false confidence and encourage a view that the pill taking is safe and that use goes up. And that, secondly, because that use goes up with that false confidence around the safety of the pills, fatalities will increase," he said.

The Green Party supports the bill and Green MP Chloe Swarbrick said there is evidence that drug testing reduces harm including from KnowYourStuffNZ and studies in the UK. 

"We have far more profound and long-reaching evidence, as released about a week ago out of the International Journal of Drug Policy. This shows us, actually, qualitatively and quantitatively on about 3,500 people out of the UK who've been followed up over a process of the last three years, that actually not only does it change potentially harmful behaviour at the point of that potential harmful behaviour, but it has flow-on effects," said Swarbrick.

"Two-thirds of people in this study had changed their behaviour permanently because of the interaction that they had had with a drug-checking service, which in turn meant that they were less likely to engage in harmful behaviour."

Also in favour of the bill is the ACT Party and its Leader David Seymour said it is wrong to prohibit drug testing.

"Drug checking is when people come together voluntarily and offer a service to help their fellow New Zealanders stay safe. That's what it is," he said.

"That's what we're talking about—people helping people voluntarily. That's why I think a conservative political party should support it. We don't want the State to solve all our problems. When we see people helping each other voluntarily, we should actually be in support of that, rather than standing in this House and prohibiting it."

A bill that passes its first reading is normally referred to a select committee, in this case, It has been referred to the Health Committee.

The committee of cross-party MPs can call for the public to submit their views and National MP Simeon Brown says he would like submissions on whether drug testing should take place in locations other than festivals.

Make a submission on the Drugs and Substances Checking Bill (No 2) here

"The question the public need to ask is whether they wish this to happen in more localities, other town centres, and near other places where their children may go. All of those questions, and those are issues which I don't believe the public have been asked to give consideration to," Brown said. 

"Those are something which I hope, if this bill does go through select committee—which I hope it doesn't, but assuming it does—the public put their voices forward on that very point: should this just be limited to music festivals, or is the public actually happy with drug-checking services popping up on main streets up and down our country? That, I think, is a very serious issue."

Swarbrick said those comments were "intentionally riling".

"One of which is the point made by Simeon Brown that, you know, "Are the public going to be happy with these drug-checking services popping up everywhere?" Well, it may come as a surprise to the likes of the member Simeon Brown, but it actually happens, again in this place called reality, that people aren't just consuming illicit substances at music festivals. They happen to do it every other weekend, as well," she said. 

The bill has been referred to the Health Committee. Its job is to look more closely at the legislation and seek advice from officials, experts, and the public. That advice, often in the form of submissions, will inform the Committee's report on the bill which may include some recommendations for changes. That report is due on October 29.