19 August 2009 - Recent comments from the Pharmacy Guild and related industries that the vast majority of pure methamphetamine or P made in New Zealand is from imported pseudoephedrine is not backed up by Police seizures of the drug according to MethCon Group director Mike Sabin.

"Recent comments by Prime Minister John Key related to the report by chief scientist Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, which points to possible restrictions or bans on over the counter pseudoephedrine have been met with a tide of resistance from some within the pharmacy industry who are making assumptions about where the product is accessed from" said Mr. Sabin.

"In 2007 and 2008 figures resulting from research and police data clearly show that 65 - 70 percent of methamphetamine clan labs dismantled by Police in New Zealand were using locally accessed pseudoephedrine from pharmacies" claimed Mr. Sabin. (reports below and attached)

"While it is clear there is significant volumes of the precursor making there way to New Zealand, mainly from China in the form of Contac NT, it is my belief that much of this is being used in sophisticated commercial scale manufacture most likely with transnational links, which is largely going undetected, while smaller to medium labs still rely on locally accessed product" said Mr. Sabin.

"The simple fact is that the vast majority of the more than 1400 labs dismantled by Police to date have used local precursors purchased in our pharmacies and when you consider that there are now many viable alternatives to cold and flu products with pseudoephedrine, we should be looking to remove it from the equation by deregistering the product" said Mr. Sabin.

"The Pharmacy Guild speak about the inconvenience and added cost of making pseudoephedrine a prescription only medicine and I agree and by deregistering the product and selling and promoting the range of viable alternatives that exist it would seem to me that there is a 'win - win' for the public and the pharmacies" claimed Mr. Sabin.

"I guess we need to decide whether we are prepared to look at alternatives to medicating symptoms of the cold and flu or whether we would rather have P fueled misery in our communities. While it is not the only solution required it would be a huge step in the right direction and allow enforcement resources to focus more on the borders" said Mr. Sabin.

"The thing we must remember though, and this was something I discussed with the Prime Minister recently, it is demand that drives supply so the correct balance of strategies is needed or else you simply push the price of P up which incentivises dealers to join the market which is where a drug Policy office and Drug Czar in this country would bring significant improvement to the failures of the past 10 years" said Mr. Sabin.