 | NORML News: Vote on Medicinal Cannabis Bill now 13 Feb 2008 |
 NORML News, Winter 2007.
By Metiria Turei, Green MP.
Compassion for ill New Zealanders is a core
New Zealand value. Many campaigns
for legislative or policy change have been
about supporting and protecting the ill. My
campaign enabling doctors to prescribe
medicinal cannabis to patients supports
thousands of ill New Zealanders who may
benefit from this option, relieving the pain of
(for just a few examples) nail-patella syndrome,
muscle spasms, phantom limb pain, chronic
pain, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia and the
wasting syndrome from HIV/AIDS.
This is not a radical move for New Zealand.
Eleven US states allow medicinal use, with
similar systems in Canada, Spain and the UK.
New South Wales is developing a four-year trial
for medicinal cannabis. International health
organisations supporting medicinal cannabis
include the American Medical Association, US
Institute of Medicine, Federation of American
Scientists, the WHO and the UK Royal College
of Physicians. All these jurisdictions and
organisations base their support on evidence
from highly regarded international medical
research teams and institutions.
There is a process for medicinal
use in New Zealand which has
never been used because it
is simply unworkable. The
application must be made
by your GP, involving extensive
negotiations with both the Ministry of
Health and Customs. The patient must
purchase the pharmaceutical version
of medicinal cannabis, which is extremely
expensive. One constituent, who has a very low
tolerance for cannabis, was quoted a price of
$300 per week for the pharmaceutical Sativex.
In effect, ill New Zealanders, especially those
who have the least resources or are the most ill,
are denied access to potential relief.
We propose a system whereby patients grow
their own cannabis and are registered with both
the Ministry of Health and local police. It is the
most accessible and cheapest model for ill New
Zealanders and adds cannabis to the tool box
of medical interventions available to doctors.
Research from the UK, Israel, Germany,
Canada, USA and numerous universities and
medical associations demonstrates cannabis
can provide relief to some patients where
mainstream pharmaceuticals have failed.
The Greens conducted a survey of doctors
in 2003 to find out exactly what sort
of professional support there is for medical
use. Doctors with a high level of knowledge
of cannabis were more likely to consider
prescribing cannabis. 6% said that they have
recommended their patients try cannabis; 10%
said they currently had patients who would
benefit from using cannabis; and 32% said
they would consider prescribing
cannabis if it were legal to
do so.
Thirty-two percent demonstrates a “silent epidemic” of ill New Zealanders searching
for alternative relief that the
pharmaceutical industry simply cannot
provide. Their silence should be cause for
shame amongst those who make decisions
about laws that prohibits this relief. They are
silenced because they fear prosecution – and it
is a real fear. Our courts have sent to jail for
cannabis use people with very serious medical
conditions for which the jails are simply not
equipped -- and because these people have
no other form of relief, they are by their very
nature repeat offenders, attracting longer
jail sentences. Regardless of one’s view of
recreational use of cannabis, medicinal use is
clearly a question of compassion.
In New Zealand there is increasing research
on medicinal marijuana. Otago University
research for example explores the use of
cannabis in minimising damage caused by
strokes, as well as in pain relief. More New
Zealand-based pharmacological research is one
benefit of freeing up medicinal marijuana. If
we can enable a doctor-directed process rather
than a ministerial one, researchers will have
greater incentives to engage in that research,
and patients will have another treatment
available to them.
greens.org.nz/campaigns/cannabis
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