Extend medicinal cannabis defence, submissions urge

The Labour-led Government is being urged to extend a legal defence for medical cannabis to non-terminal patients and people growing the plant for pain relief.

As it stands, a law change before Parliament will ensure patients with less than 12 months to live will not be prosecuted for having illicit cannabis.

Public hearings began on the bill yesterday, and several submitters told the health committee it did not go far enough.

New Zealand Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell said the exemption should be extended to patients with “severe and debilitating conditions”.

“In reality, terminal patients aren’t getting arrested . . . but many other patients are. And the way police are using their discretion means that a lot of people are getting prosecuted still.”

People providing or growing cannabis for patients, known as “Green Fairies”, should also be exempted, Bell said.

“I know that causes anxiety among politicians . . . but in the real world right now people are growing cannabis and using it for medical purposes and so we think the bill should make legal what is already happening.”

Parliament voted down a bill in January that would have allowed people with chronic conditions such as epilepsy to legally use cannabis.

The bill in Green MP Chloe Swarbrick’s name would also have allowed anyone with a prescription to use, possess and grow cannabis to treat a qualifying condition or nominate someone to grow for them.

Swarbrick, appearing before the committee yesterday, said she did not want to relitigate her failed bill. But until an official government scheme for medical cannabis was set up, it was hard for terminal patients to access medical cannabis legally if they could not grow their own.

“I think we are all aware of the gaping black hole that presently exists. I am aware that my bill was evidently voted down because people were concerned about the socalled ‘grow your own’ provision, but what we have right here is people still needing to get access to cannabis illegally.

“Otherwise-law-abiding citizens are risking jail time in order to provide medicinal cannabis to people in their community for no reason other than to alleviate suffering.”

Health Minister David Clark has previously ruled out a broader exemption for growers or patients’ supporters, saying it would “greatly widen” the scope of the bill.

“We want to keep the scope narrow, as it’s intended as a compassionate measure until the scheme is established.”

Labour’s law change will eventually create a medical cannabis scheme that will allow patients to get products from the pharmacy with a prescription from their GP. It is likely to be at least two years until the scheme is in place.