Govt asked to widen marijuana bill

The New Zealand Drug Foundation is asking the Government to widen its medicinal marijuana bill.

As it stands, the Government bill provides a legal defence for anyone who uses marijuana who has 12 months or less to live.

The activity would still be illegal but prosecution would be unlikely.

The bill also sets up an advisory committee to work out how to prescribe marijuana products.

Drug Foundation head Ross Bell told the health select committee that while he supported the principles of the bill, it could go much further.

He argued the defence should also be extended to people with ‘‘severe and debilitating’’ conditions.

‘‘Only focusing on terminal patients isn’t good enough. In reality, terminal patients aren’t getting arrested by police but many other patients are,’’ Bell said.

Police can already exercise some discretion over who they arrest, but Bell and other submitters argued this power was not being used fairly.

Green MP Chloe Swarbrick, whose own medicinal marijuana bill was defeated at its first reading, said there was ‘‘no rule of law’’ over who received discretionary treatment and that it should be doctors deciding, not police.

‘‘We currently have a situation where police on the front lines are being quite open about the fact that they are de facto decriminalising the use of cannabis for medicinal reasons or recreational reasons,’’ Swarbrick said.

‘‘There is no rule of law. So who is being prosecuted there? Because I can almost guarantee you that it is not certain classes or demographics of people.’’

Shane Le Brun from Medicinal Cannabis In Aotearoa supported this point.

‘‘The only people I know of that are discharged without conviction for medical purposes are old white women,’’ Le Brun said.

Graeme Smith from the Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand said pharmacists were concerned about the law change.

He said while the bill would make the system more equitable, the black market marijuana could not yet be said to be safe or of medical quality.

The research he had seen on cannabis showed that roughly 30 per cent of regular users developed characteristics consistent with ‘‘cannabis use disorder’’ – a recognised diagnosis related to craving and psychosocial issues.