Kiwis want cannabis law to go further, study reveals
A new cannabis law set to come into force this week doesn’t go far enough, according to a survey of 2000 New Zealanders.
The results of the survey, released on Friday, show Kiwis want broader access to medicinal marijuana and for cannabis-derived products to be regulated like other medicines.
In late November, the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill passed its second reading and is expected to come into effect this week. The updated law will extend the use of medicinal cannabis to all people needing palliative relief, rather than just those with a year or less to live.
But 72 per cent of those surveyed say doctors should decide, on a patient-by-patient basis, who should access medicinal cannabis products.
The survey also shows 73 per cent of Kiwis want cannabis to be treated the same as any other medicine. There was also a broad call for it to be permitted as a treatment for a range of other conditions, which aren’t necessarily life-threatening.
Sixty-eight per cent said they want cannabis products to be used for the treatment of chronic pain, 65 per cent want it for sleep disorders, 58 per cent want it for cancer treatment, 52 per cent want it for epilepsy and 50 per cent want it for multiple sclerosis.
A further 49 per cent would like to see the door opened to cannabis treatments for anxiety, while 48 per cent indicated they’d like access to cannabis products to treat arthritis.
Paul Manning, director of cannabis startup Helius Therapeutics, said he commissioned Horizon Research to conduct the study to learn more about local attitudes.
“It’s clear New Zealanders want a more comprehensive law than the one we are likely to get next week,” Manning said. “We urge MPs to listen to what the overwhelming majority of New Zealanders are telling them.
“They want broad access to affordable medicinal cannabis products. There is an opportunity for our politicians to make further amendments now, to ensure medicinal cannabis products are readily available to all patients who stand to benefit.”
He said the survey shows crosspartisan support for wider legislative changes, in that voters for Act, Green, Labour, National and NZ First contributed to the survey results.
National MP for Whangarei Dr Shane Reti, a trained medical doctor, said that failing to create a sufficiently comprehensive law change has a dual effect for New Zealand.
“Every day we wait, exporters lose market share to Australia, and New Zealanders are deprived of another tool in a doctor’s toolbox to ease the suffering of New Zealanders.”
The Canadian cannabis industry has benefited from progressive laws, which provide broader access to cannabis products. Canadian firms have become some of the biggest players in the marijuana industry.
Under Reti’s guidance, National has proposed allowing prescribing health professionals to issue a “medicinal cannabis card” so patients or their carers can access licensed medicinal cannabis products from a pharmacist, without having to renew prescriptions.
The survey, done from November 27 to December 6, showed 59 per cent of Kiwis would be open to that. Wellington GPs from five general practices will strike for an hour this morning from 9am. It is the second strike in a series of planned stoppages over the exclusion of dentists from their collective employment agreement. Lloyd Woods, a Senior Industrial Officer from the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, said they never got a good enough reason about why dentists were excluded. Further stoppages were planned for December 13, 18 and 19, with a full-day strike on Christmas Eve.