Matua Kahurangi: Meth, markets and mistakes

In 2011, pseudoephedrine, a once-common ingredient in cold and flu medication, was pulled from New Zealand pharmacy shelves and reclassified as a Class B controlled substance. The reason? It could be used to manufacture methamphetamine, or “P”, the drug blamed for a wave of addiction, crime and community devastation across the country.

The decision was seen as bold, even necessary. Then-Prime Minister John Key said he feared for his teenage children. His own home had been burgled by a man with a meth habit. The ban, Key argued, would help dismantle the domestic meth supply chain and protect Kiwi families.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 20/5/24

Priority is given to powerlines – govt strikes another blow for the economy while Jones fends off a fingers offensive

Tree-huggers may well accuse the Government of giving them the fingers, after Energy Minister Simeon Brown announced new measures to protect powerlines from trees, rather than measures to protect trees from powerlines.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 12/4/24

Peters talks of NZ “renewing its connections with the world” – but who knew we had been disconnected?

The thrust of the country’s foreign affairs policy and its relationship with the United States have been addressed in four statements from the Beehive over the past 24 hours.

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters somewhat curiously spoke of New Zealand “renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges” by pursuing “an active, energetic foreign policy”.

Kevin: The Cough Medicine That Works Is Back

If you have a cold or ’flu, the new G3vernment has come to your rescue by returning the good drugs back to chemists’ shelves.

The reason they were removed in the first place was because those good drugs have pseudoephedrine in them, a key ingredient in the manufacture of methamphetamine. The thinking was that if we make that ingredient harder to come by, we would reduce the methamphetamine supply in New Zealand.