Closing cannabis loophole ‘barbaric’

Closing a loophole allowing travellers to bring in prescribed medicinal cannabis into New Zealand from the United States is ‘‘barbaric’’ and ‘‘mean spirited’’, campaigners say.

Information on New Zealand Customs and The Ministry of Health website this week said cannabis-based products from the US could not be carried into New Zealand. Customs staff were taking that stance from Wednesday.

Golden Bay woman Rebecca Reider, who this year successfully bought in a month’s supply of US prescribed cannabis products for pain relief, said the Government’s decision was a ‘‘barbaric and deliberate attempt to stop sick people in pain from getting their medicine’’.

It would affect her in a ‘‘very real way’’.

‘‘My dad is coming to visit me soon and could have brought my next supply of medicine, because he is classed as one of my caregivers. But now the Ministry of Health is actively taking people’s access to health away.’’

Reider uses cannabis for relief from a chronic pain condition.

She said the quality of the cannabis on the black market in New Zealand was a far cry from what she was able to access in places where cannabis was legal.

‘‘In California I have a choice between so many different strains of cannabis. There are some that agitate my nervous system or make me too sleepy, so it’s really important for people who need to medicate they get the right strain.’’

Reider’s lawyer Sue Grey exposed the loophole in the Misuse of Drugs Act. It allowed patients entering or leaving New Zealand to carry with them a month’s supply of medicinal marijuana, as long as it was legally prescribed overseas by a medical practitioner.

A statement posted on Custom New Zealand’s website this week said while cannabis-based products were considered lawful in many US states, they were not lawful under federal law – unless the product had US Food and Drug Administration approval. No drug product derived from cannabis has been approved by the FDA.

‘‘It is bizarre that the New Zealand Government is trying to enforce US federal laws that the US government does not enforce,’’ she said.

She was considering filing a legal challenge in the High Court.