Govt changing pot laws for terminally ill
The Government will not be legalising the medicinal use of cannabis but it will allow terminal patients caught growing cannabis to use their illness as a defence to avoid prosecution.
New legislation introduced by the Government yesterday will also introduce a medicinal cannabis scheme to enable access to medical-grade cannabis products and remove cannabidiol from the schedule of controlled drugs.
That means, eventually, patients with a prescription will be able to access medicinal cannabis products at a pharmacy.
That scheme will take time to implement but as soon as the law is passed, patients with less than a year to live, who had been caught using the raw form of cannabis, would have a legal defence.
How that will work in practice, is not yet clear. Health Minister David Clark said he expected police to use discretion when dealing with terminally ill patients.
A medicinal cannabis committee would provide advice about the prescribing process and whether pre-approval from the ministry to prescribe should continue.
The committee would also set minimum quality standards to improve patient safety, and allow for the domestic commercial cultivation and manufacture of medicinal cannabis products.
Clark said he also expected the cost of cannabis products to come down once new products were being manufactured in New Zealand.
It would remain an offence to supply cannabis to terminally ill people with less than 12 months to live, unless it was a medical product in accordance with a valid prescription from a medical practitioner.
Clark said that over time, the legislation would result in a ‘‘greater supply of quality medicinal cannabis, including products made here in New Zealand’’.
‘‘There is increasing evidence to support the use of medicinal cannabis. Just last week, the World Health Organisation noted that cannabidiol could have therapeutic value and did not carry any addiction risks,’’ he said.
‘‘However, there will be people who can’t wait. So as an interim measure the legislation will create a legal defence for possession and use of illicit cannabis for people who are expected by their doctors to be in their last year of life. This does not make it legal for the terminally ill to use cannabis but it means that they will not be criminalised for doing so.’’
Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell welcomed the move to establish a governmentrun medical cannabis scheme.
‘‘The proposed scheme is very similar to models that have been working well in places such as The Netherlands and Canada.
‘‘The encouragement of a domestic supply market could be a game changer by expanding the range of products, as well as addressing the current expense of importing products from overseas.’’