Peter Gluckman

Wellington, Aug 17 NZPA - Over the counter sales of cold tablets which use pseudoephedrine will be banned if the Government takes up a recommendation by Prime Minister John Key's chief science adviser.

Mr Key confirmed today that Professor Peter Gluckman had delivered a report on precursors, the chemicals that are used to make the drug methamphetamine, known as P.

Mr Key asked Prof Gluckman to prepare the report and focus on whether it would be possible to eliminate pseudoephedrine from cold tablets that are sold off prescription.

"He has recommended a number of potential options, one of them is to ban pseudoephedrine in terms of over the counter and non-hospital medication," Mr Key said at his post-cabinet press conference.

Asked whether that meant pseudoephredrine-based cold tablets would become prescription-only medicine, he replied: "If that was the preferred outcome, if that was the process the Government adopted."

Mr Key would not discuss the details of Prof Gluckman's report, saying he was working on a number of other initiatives to deal with the drug problem.

He said he would release the report, and his own recommendations "in the foreseeable future".

Mr Key asked for the report in May.

He said at the time the Government was looking at a wide range of measures to get on top of the methamphetamine problem.

"I do sense there's a really strong desire from the community for the Government to show some leadership...it's a $1.5 billion problems, it's wrecking lives and it's wrecking families," he said.

Pseudoephedrine is the main precursor for methamphetamine and can be distilled from cold tablets.

Mr Key said in May some US states had eliminated it from cold tablets and he wanted to look at all the options.

"If we're going to seriously get on top of P we need to take a holistic and liberal approach, it's not one single thing in isolation that's going to solve the problem."