Medicinal pot bill to be diluted?

The Government appears to be bracing for a backdown on medicinal cannabis legislation, with Health Minister David Clark at pains to manage expectations on how far it will go.

Legislation to widen access medicinal cannabis will be introduced today. Clark said there would be some ‘‘activists’’ who would want it to go further.

Opposition health spokesman Jonathan Coleman said Labour ‘‘talked big’’ on medicinal cannabis during the campaign, and weakened reform would be one of its ‘‘first big health failures’’.

Labour campaigned on introducing legislation to ‘‘make medicinal cannabis available for people with terminal illnesses or in chronic pain’’.

Limited medicinal cannabis products were available in certain cases, but patients must jump through a number of hoops for approval.

In June, the previous Government announced the Ministry of Health would no longer need to approve the use of cannabis product cannabidiol (CBD) for individual cases. Doctors were now able to prescribe without ministry approval.

Clark would not comment on the details of the bill, before it was announced. But his comments suggested the Government could be preparing to widen access for medicinal cannabis products, while not necessarily allowing for the full legalisation of medicinal marijuana in its raw form.

‘‘The bill itself, represents what we know the Parliament is willing to progress. There’s another member’s bill in the name of Chloe Swarbrick that will test if the Parliament has an appetite to go further,’’ he said.

Clark said the party ‘‘drew on the experience it had through the campaign’’ when drafting the policy. But admitted some would be left disappointed by the legislation.

‘‘It won’t make all of the activists happy. There will be some who would wish that we would go further – we believe we have struck a balance, which represents good progress.

‘‘And the Parliament will get its chance with Chloe Swarbrick’s bill to decide whether it wants to go further,’’ Clark said.

‘‘The Government has created its own piece of legislation to progress medicinal cannabis; it was part of our 100-day plan.

‘‘We wanted to make sure that medicinal cannabis is more accessible to people with terminal illness or chronic conditions and the piece of legislation will make progress.’’

Coleman said if Labour had made the promise, then it needed to deliver.

‘‘Labour has talked big on medicinal cannabis; it’s one of two health items in its 100-day plan. And so I think the anticipation amongst people who want law reform, is that as a result of Labour’s legislation they will be able to access loose-leaf cannabis for medical conditions.

‘‘And I think anything short of that is going to be quite a backdown for Labour.’’

The former GP did not know whether National would be supporting the Government legislation, as they had not yet seen the details.

That the Government had chosen to leave Swarbrick’s bill on Parliament’s order paper was likely to be ‘‘coalition politics’’, Coleman said.

‘‘And it will be very interesting to see if Labour do actually support that bill.’’

Green Party MP Swarbrick’s bill was one she inherited from Minister Julie Anne Genter and seeks to fully legalise medicinal cannabis. But that bill would allow those with terminal illnesses to grow and consume their own cannabis.

Green Party leader James Shaw said he would like both bills to get support.

Clark confirmed he would be supporting Swarbrick’s bill go to a select committee. It was a conscience vote, so MPs could vote individually and not along party lines.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said members would have options with the presence of both bills.

But the Government bill would ‘‘improve on the status quo’’.

‘‘We can guarantee with the bill we have got we can do that. We can’t guarantee that with the member’s bill. There are differences and you will see that when the bill is introduced.’’

She indicated both the Green Party and NZ First had been involved with the drafting of the new Government bill.