Officials back planned return of pseudoephedrine sales but suggest meth production increase

Pseudoephedrine will be back on the shelves next winter with the new coalition Government agreeing to Act leader David Seymour's policy.

Health officials are in favour of the Government’s plan to reclassify pseudoephedrine within legislation, which will make more effective cold and flu medicine more accessible.

Officials have advised Associate Health Minister David Seymour, who leads the Misuse of Drugs (Pseudoephedrine) Amendment Bill, that the move comes with risks including a potential increase in domestic meth production, a higher likelihood pharmacies would be ram-raided and the potential for improper use.

However, officials are confident reclassifying the drug “achieves the primary objective of increasing accessibility, while minimising diversion and the risks of inappropriate therapeutic use as much as possible”.

The advice was contained within the Ministry of Health’s Regulatory Impact Statement which assessed the Government’s proposal, its potential impacts and whether other options could be more suitable.

The bill sought to change the classification of pseudoephedrine a class B2 controlled drug to a class C3 (partially exempted) drug.

The drug was given the B2 classification in 2011 by former Prime Minister Sir John Key as part of his “war on P” that aimed to reduce the domestic production of methamphetamine, of which pseudoephedrine is an ingredient.

Health officials found there was no substantial decrease in the availability of meth following the move as suppliers shifted to import the drug in its finished product from overseas.

Given criminal organisations now relied on imports, officials said it was unlikely overall levels of meth demand and supply would be impacted, but they did acknowledge it provided an avenue for production to occur on smaller levels or for individual use.

“Currently, methamphetamine laboratories are almost exclusively commercial operations run by [organised crime groups] due to the prohibitive cost of purchasing precursor substances.

“With greater accessibility of pseudoephedrine in pharmacies, individuals will be able to manufacture methamphetamine on a smaller scale, without needing to establish connections with overseas suppliers of precursors.

“Existing supply routes for importing methamphetamine and precursors are likely to continue to operate at a similar level.”

Officials weren't overly concerned about the move's impact on the level of meth in New Zealand. Photo / Mike Scott

The statement did include information from the National Drug Intelligence Bureau about a “substantial supply line” of pseudoephedrine from India identified in 2022 which suggested “there may be substantial domestic manufacture of methamphetamine occurring in New Zealand”.

Aside from meth concerns, other potential risks included the possibility of pharmacies that stocked the medicines becoming more attractive targets for crime.

Officials said the risk of increased crime was difficult to predict but believed it could be mitigated through improved security measures, which could be achieved by accessing funding through government retail crime prevention projects.

Making such medicines more available also presented the opportunity for “inappropriate therapeutic use”, but that could be mitigated through proper labelling and restricting sales to pharmacies.

Seymour’s bill went through its first reading last month while the House was in urgency amid the Government’s desire to achieve its 100-day plan.

All parties except for Te Pāti Māori voted in favour of the bill.

It would spend four weeks in select committee. The Government hoped to pass the bill in full by the end of this month with the medicines to be available by next winter.

Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.