Request for Information on Pseudoephedrine Policy and Risk Assessment
Sarah Burns made this Official Information request to David Seymour
Response to this request is delayed. By law, David Seymour should normally have responded promptly and by (details and exceptions)
From: Sarah Burns
Dear Hon. David Seymour,
Under the Official Information Act 1982, I respectfully request the following information related to the reintroduction of pseudoephedrine-based medications to pharmacy shelves in New Zealand, covering the period from January 2022 to the present:
1. All official advice, briefings, correspondence, and risk assessments you received or generated concerning the reintroduction of pseudoephedrine. This includes material from:
• NZ Police
• Ministry of Health / Te Whatu Ora
• Medsafe
• Ministry of Justice
• Customs NZ
• Your ministerial office and/or ACT Party policy team
2. Any analysis or modelling regarding:
• The risk of pseudoephedrine being diverted into illicit methamphetamine production
• The potential impact of this policy on methamphetamine-related harm in New Zealand
3. Details of any monitoring or evaluation frameworks that were implemented to assess the real-world impact of this policy, including changes in:
• Methamphetamine use (e.g. wastewater data)
• Domestic production or importation trends
• Law enforcement activity related to pseudoephedrine or methamphetamine
4. A copy of any advice or statements from NZ Police—as referenced in your recent comments—supporting the position that the reintroduction of pseudoephedrine has not contributed to increased methamphetamine harm.
Please provide the information in electronic format. If any part of this request is too broad, I am willing to discuss refining its scope.
I look forward to your response within the 20 working days required under the Act.
Sincerely
Sarah Burns
From: David Seymour (MIN)
David Seymour
Please note this is an automatically generated email.
Thank you for taking the time to contact Hon David Seymour. While David
considers all correspondence to be important, and all messages are read
and considered, it’s not always possible to provide a personal response.
• Correspondence about David’s ministerial portfolios will be considered
and responded to as appropriate
• If you are sending an invitation, please contact
[email address] who manages the Minister’s calendar
• If you live in the Epsom electorate, please contact
[email address]
• If you have a question about ACT Party policy, please contact
[email address]
• If you have copied your email to a Minister or MP with responsibility
for the issue you have raised, your message will be noted
• If you have made a request for official information, it will be managed
in accordance with the provisions of the Official Information Act.
From: David Seymour (MIN)
David Seymour
Dear Sarah
Thank you for your email in which you submitted an Official Information
Act request as follows:
1. All official advice, briefings, correspondence, and risk assessments
you received or generated concerning the reintroduction of
pseudoephedrine. This includes material from:
• NZ Police
• Ministry of Health / Te Whatu Ora
• Medsafe
• Ministry of Justice
• Customs NZ
• Your ministerial office and/or ACT Party
policy team
2. Any analysis or modelling regarding:
• The risk of pseudoephedrine being diverted
into illicit methamphetamine production
• The potential impact of this policy on
methamphetamine-related harm in New Zealand
3. Details of any monitoring or evaluation
frameworks that were implemented to assess the real-world impact of this
policy, including changes in:
• Methamphetamine use (e.g. wastewater data)
• Domestic production or importation trends
• Law enforcement activity related to
pseudoephedrine or methamphetamine
4. A copy of any advice or statements from NZ
Police—as referenced in your recent comments—supporting the position that
the reintroduction of pseudoephedrine has not contributed to increased
methamphetamine harm.
Question 1
We received your request on Monday 19 May 2025. We will endeavour to
respond to your request as soon as possible and in any event no later than
Tuesday 17 June 2025, being 20 working days after the day your request was
received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will
notify you of an extension of that timeframe.
The response date takes into account King's Birthday (2 June 2025).
Questions 2, 3, 4
We have determined that the information requested is more closely
connected with the portfolio responsibilities of the Minister of Police.
As such, we have part-transferred your request to Hon Mark Mitchell,
Minister of Police in accordance with section 14(b)(ii) of the Act.
You may expect a response from the Minister of Police directly concerning
questions 2,3 and 4 of your request.
Kind regards,
Office of Hon David Seymour
[1]A pink and Deputy Prime Minister (from 31 May 2025)
white emblem
with two women Minister for Regulation
holding flags Associate Minister of Education
Description
automatically Associate Minister of Justice
generated
Associate Minister of Finance
Associate Minister of Health
7.6 Executive Wing, Parliament Buildings, Wellington
DSOIA512
show quoted sections
From: Ministerial Services
Tēnā koe Sarah
I acknowledge receipt of your Official Information Act (OIA) request
below, transferred to NZ Police by Minister David Seymour’s office on 23
May 2025.
The transferred request is as follows:
“2. Any analysis or modelling regarding:
• The risk of pseudoephedrine being diverted into illicit
methamphetamine production
• The potential impact of this policy on
methamphetamine-related harm in New Zealand
3. Details of any monitoring or evaluation frameworks that were
implemented to assess the real-world impact of this policy, including
changes in:
Methamphetamine use (e.g. wastewater data)
• Domestic production or importation trends
• Law enforcement activity related to pseudoephedrine or
methamphetamine
4. A copy of any advice or statements from NZ Police—as
referenced in your recent comments—supporting the position that the
reintroduction of pseudoephedrine has not contributed to increased
methamphetamine harm.”
You can expect a response to your request on or before 24 June 2025 unless
an extension is needed.
Kind regards
Siena (she/her)
Advisor - Ministerial Services
Police National Headquarters
===============================================================
WARNING
The information contained in this email message is intended for the
addressee only and may contain privileged information. It may also be
subject to the provisions of section 50 of the Policing Act 2008, which
creates an offence to have unlawful possession of Police property. If you
are not the intended recipient of this message or have received this
message in error, you must not peruse, use, distribute or copy this
message or any of its contents. Also note, the views expressed in this
message may not necessarily reflect those of the New Zealand Police. If
you have received this message in error, please email or telephone the
sender immediately
From: David Seymour (MIN)
David Seymour
Partial response and extension of time to respond to your request for
information: DSOIA512
Dear Sarah
Thank you for your email in which you submitted an Official Information
Act request as follows:
Covering the period from January 2022 to the present:
1. All official advice, briefings, correspondence, and risk assessments
you received or generated concerning the reintroduction of
pseudoephedrine. This includes material from:
• NZ Police
• Ministry of Health / Te Whatu Ora
• Medsafe
• Ministry of Justice
• Customs NZ
• Your ministerial office and/or ACT Party policy team
2. Any analysis or modelling regarding:
• The risk of pseudoephedrine being diverted into illicit methamphetamine
production
• The potential impact of this policy on methamphetamine-related harm in
New Zealand
3. Details of any monitoring or evaluation frameworks that were
implemented to assess the real-world impact of this policy, including
changes in:
• Methamphetamine use (e.g. wastewater data)
• Domestic production or importation trends
• Law enforcement activity related to pseudoephedrine or methamphetamine
4. A copy of any advice or statements from NZ Police—as referenced in your
recent comments—supporting the position that the reintroduction of
pseudoephedrine has not contributed to increased methamphetamine harm.
As you have been advised with regard to parts 2, 3 & 4 of your request, we
have determined that the information requested is more closely connected
with the portfolio responsibilities of the Minister of Police. As such, we
have part-transferred your request to Hon Mark Mitchell, Minister of
Police in accordance with section 14(b)(ii) of the Act.
Some information identified in scope of part 1 your request is publicly
available and therefore refused under section 18(d) of the Act:
Cabinet material relating to allowing sales of cold medicines containing
pseudoephedrine has been published on the Ministry of Health website
here:
·
[1]www.health.govt.nz/information-releases/cabinet-material-allowing-sales-of-cold-medicines-containing-pseudoephedrine
·
[2]www.health.govt.nz/system/files/2024-06/h2024034816_am_-_talking_points_for_100-day_plan_committee_allowing_sales_of_cold_medicines_containing_pseudoephedrine_black_box.pdf
New Zealand Bill of Rights Act advice has been published on the Ministry
of Justice website here:
[3]www.justice.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Publications/NZ-BORA-Advice-Misuse-of-Drugs-Pseudoephedrine-Amendment-Bill-for-publication.pdf
We have decided to extend the period available to respond to the remainder
your request under section 15A of the Official Information Act 1982 (the
Act) as the request necessitates a search through a large volume of
information and meeting the original time limit would unreasonably
interfere with the operations of the department or Minister. You can now
expect a response to the remainder of your request on or before 8 July
2025.
You have the right, under section 28 of the Act, to ask the Ombudsman to
review my decision to extend the time available to respond to your
request.
Kind regards
Office of Hon David Seymour
Deputy Prime Minister
[4]A pink and
white emblem Minister for Regulation
with two women Associate Minister of Education | Associate Minister
holding flags of Finance
Description
automatically Associate Minister of Health | Associate Minister of
generated Justice
DDI 04 817 6333 | 7.6 Executive Wing, Parliament
Buildings
DSOIA512
show quoted sections
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence