29 October 2018

Green Party welcome progress on medicinal cannabis legislation

The Green Party has negotiated to achieve substantial improvements to Medicinal Cannabis legislation which provide certainty and clarity to patients and their whānau.

“Today, the Government's Bill will return to the House for its Second Reading. Through negotiation with governing parties we've managed to guarantee certainty for patients and their whānau that a local licencing, production, prescription and consumption regime will be established by the end of next year”, Green Party Sensible Drug Law Reform spokesperson Chlöe Swarbrick said today.

“This will change the lives of people like Grace Yeats who I met in January of this year. At 10 years old, Grace was diagnosed with a rare brain illness that left her unable to walk, to eat, to sit, or to speak, until she was prescribed Sativex, a medicinal cannabis product. The treatment costs her mum, Tracy, a prohibitive $1,100 a month.

“Additionally, 25,000 New Zealanders in palliative care will no longer be threatened by criminal sanctions for using medicinal cannabis to ease their pain.

“We have also made sure that NZ strains of medicinal cannabis can be used in the scheme so that a domestic market can be developed rather than relying on imported products.

“Today we move towards delivering on something the Greens have worked on for decades. Today is for people like Grace. Today is for champions and advocates like Helen Kelly. I look forward to seeing the bill progress through the house”.

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