Pseudoephedrine will be allowed back into cold medication next winter - a win for Act leader David Seymour as part of the new coalition Government. 

Seymour campaigned on the promise of reversing the ban on over-the-counter sales of the decongestant. 

Speaking after signing a coalition agreement with Prime Minister Chris Luxon and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, Seymour, the new Minister for Regulation, said lifting the ban on pseudoephedrine would be part of “long overdue” health reforms. 

Codral, Sudafed and Nurofen cold and flu pills used to contain pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in making P. They will be allowed to contain pseudoephedrine again next year. Photo / Martin Sykes 

Luxon said the coalition deal signed “provid[ed] that the Government [would] progress a range of Act initiatives, and these [would] be supported by New Zealand First”.  

The Government banned over-the-counter sales of pseudoephedrine in 2011, with then-prime minister Sir John Key touting it as a way to combat methamphetamine production. Pseudoephedrine is an ingredient of meth.  

A drug policy expert told the Herald earlier this month the country was so “awash” with methamphetamine that a pseudoephedrine ban was largely “redundant” in stemming the country’s supply.  

On the election campaign, Seymour said the ban hadn’t worked: “Instead, the evidence shows that gangs continue to produce P, and there are no viable alternatives for people who are unwell.” 

Chemists, however, said while pseudoephedrine was an effective decongestant, they were wary about any change, given they were regularly targeted in burglaries and ram raid-style robberies prior to the ban. 

At the time of the ban, it was argued there were alternatives just as effective, such as Sudafed, but recent studies have challenged this.   

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‘Wouldn’t want to go back to those days’ before ban, says chemist 

Pharmacist Linda Palmer, of Westmere Pharmacy in Auckland, told the Herald she couldn’t recall a pharmacy prior to 2011 that hadn’t been robbed or ram-raided by opportunists hunting out pseudoephedrine. 

“People would grab it off the shelves and run out with it, and there were ram raids and other crimes associated with it. 

“Policing it was very hard. We had to ask for ID, and there clearly many drug seekers and others working for people who cooked it.” 

Palmer said there was a gap in the market for medicines containing pseudoephedrine. 

“It is a very effective medicine, and other cold and flu remedies have proven to be ineffective. But I certainly wouldn’t want to go back to those days.” 

She said she wondered if many pharmacies would choose to stock the medicines given the risk, and the fact there was currently little demand for it as a prescription medicine. 

She said there would need to be safety protocols around it, such as a centralised recording system so people couldn’t go “place to place”. 

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.