Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine.
Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June.
“This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised that New Zealanders want these medicines for winter, and we’ve done our part in achieving this by changing the law swiftly and overseeing a fast approval process by Medsafe. The only step left is for pharmaceutical companies to get the medicines to our shores, which they’ve indicated they can do by winter,” says Mr Seymour.
“This accessibility will be a real relief to New Zealanders suffering from colds and flu this winter. They will be able to access the same effective cold and flu medicines that are available in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.”
The Misuse of Drugs (Pseudoephedrine) Amendment Bill passed its final reading unanimously in the House this week. The bill reclassifies pseudoephedrine from a Class B to a Class C controlled drug. Along with changes to the Medicines Regulations 1984, this means New Zealanders will be able to purchase cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine from a pharmacy without a prescription.
“New Zealanders have been denied decent cold and flu medication for years because of a misguided ban caused by fears it would be used for methamphetamine production. The reality is that the gangs have far more effective ways of obtaining pseudoephedrine to manufacture methamphetamine and we should tackle these head on instead,” says Mr Seymour.
“Safeguards will remain in place to prevent misuse. It will retain its status as a controlled drug and a precursor substance. While restrictions on importing and exporting these medicines are still in place, and New Zealand Police and New Zealand Customs are able to seize illicit products.
“The coalition government has delivered on its commitment to making principled decisions by getting rid of red tape that doesn’t make sense and allowing sick New Zealanders greater freedom and choice to purchase effective cold and flu medicines.”
Image credit: James Yarema
I would prefer to see a change in licensing laws for Netflix, it must be the worst library in the world. Way too many restrictions. And no, I don’t want a VPN, it needs to be sorted out.
Finally a sensible move. I was starting to wonder if this lot had any clue at all….
I won’t hopefully need it now i have learnt a whole lot of natural ways to stay healthy. Thanks Covid!
Good news for the meth cooks
Back in the day we used to down entire bottles of Sudafed, and I can tell you, pseudoephedrine is one hell of a drug… There was also Benedryl which had the hallucinogenic chemical DXM as an ingredient. Certainly weird stuff to be in cold and flu symptom suppressant products.
Yeah na Stick to my lemon amd honey
I think it is to keep people drugged up at home, so they don’t overwhelm the hospitals with their intentionally suppressed immune systems.
Totally agree, so many natural ways to be used for a multitude of things.