Press Release
Libertarianz
Health
Health Minister Jumps On The Ban Wagon
Health Minister Annette King proposies to inconvenience all New Zealanders by placing a total ban on remedies containing
pseudoephedrine, warns Libertarianz Spokesman for Health Deregulation Dr. Richard Goode.
Pseudoephedrine is a safe and highly effective decongestant that helps to clear the stuffy noses and blocked sinuses of
hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders suffering from colds and flu each year, but it can also be used in part to
manufacture the popular party drug methamphetamine, also known as 'P'.
King has asked government drug safety agency Medsafe for a report by mid-January into whether pseudoephedrine products
should be banned throughout New Zealand, and she can hardly wait. "If Medsafe recommends a ban, then King will happily -
and quite literally - tell us all to get stuffed!" observes Goode.
"The twin notions of individual freedom and personal responsibility are alien to this minister," Goode laments. "King
got this idea into her head after hearing of the self-imposed ban on the prescription and sale of pseudoephedrine by a
group of Rotorua doctors and pharmacists. However, there's a world of difference between a voluntary, self-imposed ban
and an involuntary, nanny-statist, government-imposed ban. This is yet another threat to the liberty we still have left
to make our own health decisions and to run our own lives."
But Goode remains optimistic that King's proposal will come to nothing. "Even Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton -
leader of the anti-drug party - opposes such a ban." In conclusion, Goode offers, "Methamphetamine users, at least, can
rest assured - no ban can stop the 'P' epidemic. Where there's demand, the black market will supply."
Dr. Richard Goode Libertarianz Spokesman for Health Deregulation Email: richard.goode@xtra.co.nz Mobile: 021 340 057
www.libertarianz.org.nz