The ACT Party has pledged to restore over-the-counter sales of pseudoephedrine should it be in government after the upcoming election.
The drug has been a prescription-only medication since 2011. It's a key precursor ingredient in the manufacture of methamphetamine.
The drug – available under the brand name Sudafed in New Zealand – is prescribed for sinus decongestion.
"Older New Zealanders have noticed that being able to find an over the counter cold and flu medication that actually helps is getting harder," ACT leader David Seymour said in a statement this afternoon.
"Pseudoephedrine was banned because of fears it would be used for P production and following assurances there would be alternatives.
"Instead, the evidence shows that gangs continue to produce P, and there are no viable alternatives for people who are unwell."
As well as reversing the ban on over-the-counter sales of pseudoephedrine, Seymour said the party would "require post-implementation evaluations of pharmacist-only and prescription-only classifications for medicines used to cure common ailments".
It comes as part of a wider policy pledge targeting older Kiwis.
In the same release, ACT promised to reform the Retirement Commission to be more focused on retirement villages and ageing in place, and to require the commission to develop framework for individualised funding of in-home care.
Seymour also said the party would "introduce a range of policies to ease the health workforce crisis and ensure there is proper planning and forecasting to meet the needs of an ageing population", and pointed to the party's crime and justice policies.
He called the Retirement Commission a "quango that achieves very little for the taxpayer funding it gets".
The party's full seniors policy is available here.
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