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Associate Health Minister, David Seymour, has recently announced changes to Psilocybin and Melatonin availability.

Psilocybin, the compound found in magic mushrooms, will be available for certain patients suffering from poor mental health outcomes. Melatonin, which is used for insomnia and jetlag, is set to be available over the counter.

For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to him about this move, and the potential accessibility concerns with accessing these medications.

They also discussed taxpayers set to be funding newly-funded cancer medicines for private facilities.

Finally, they discuss opposition parties criticised Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, over a lack of transparency regarding the effectiveness of boot camps for youth offenders, especially as boot camps have received a boost of $30 million, despite the pilot programme still being ongoing.

But first, they discussed Psilocybin and Melatonin.

Recently, Statistics Minister, Shane Reti, has announced that Stats NZ will be moving away from the Census to collect data, cancelling the next scheduled Census in 2028.

The move will result in data already collected by government agencies to be used as the primary source of population data.

To ensure minority communities are accurately portrayed in national data, Stats NZ say they will be working with these communities, with plans to implement smaller surveys and targeted data collection.

However, concerns have been raised about whether this is enough.

News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Liza Bolton, a Professional Teaching Fellow in the Department of Statistics at the University of Auckland, about this move, and her concerns regarding moving away from the Census to collect data.

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Alice Canton spoke with actor and playwright Gideon Smith about Black Faggot - a black comedy production at Q Theatre telling the experiences of queer Pasifika in response to Destiny Church’s “Enough is Enough” march on Parliament in 2004 and the 2012 protests against the Marriage Equality bill.

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Oto and Peter had a kōrero about Shia Islam, the differences between it and the more widely followed Sunni sect and it's role in Middle-Eastern geopolitics.

The government is considering changes to the rules surrounding who can ride bikes on the sidewalk and e-scooters in the bike lane. Currently e-scooters are not allowed in the bike line, despite many riders using it, and bikes can only be ridden on the sidewalk by young children.

The government is planning to change this, allowing e-scooters in the bike line legally, and raising the age cap for bike riding on the sidewalk.

Producer Samantha spoke to Tim Jones, President of Living Streets Aotearoa regarding these proposed changes and their implications.

With Psilocybin set to be more available for those with treatment-resistant depression comes the question of accessibility.

Currently only one specialist will be able to provide psilocybin to patients, with concerns over how much the treatment will cost.

News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Suresh Muthukumaraswamy, a Professor in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Auckland, about psilocybin, and what should be expected with allowing psilocybin to treat treatment-resistant depression.

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Salute Calvin Yarborough for Yarborough and People! K&J bring you tonight's show a galaxy worth of soul stars for Matariki.