Health Select Committee Inquiry

Parliament's Health Select Committee conducted an inquiry into health issues and the legal status of cannabis in 2001. It finally released its report in 2003. You can read the entire report (443 KB, PDF) and the Government's Response (PDF, 834 KB). And you can read the NORML response to the report and the NORML response to the Government's response.

There are links to all the news stories in the press around the time of the enquiry below, also there are pages about each of the Select Committee hearings, or you can read all the NORML news stories about the Cannabis Inquiry.

What do you think of the Inquiry report? Have Your Say in the NORML Forum.

After failing to produce a report during the last parliamentary term, committee chair Steve Chadwick promised a report early in 2003. But it took the Committe until March 26 to consider the evidence and there were many more meetings and drafts of the report in the following months, until finally they had a final draft at the end of July. The report was released on August 8th 2003. The committee is failed to make any recommendations for or against decriminalising cannabis for recreational use, despite a majority of submissions favouring this. It did reccommend the medicinal use of cannabis though. Another couple of minor steps forward are that it is also recommended increased use of diversions for first time offenders and that there should be another study on the legal status by the Justice and Electoral Select Committee, which is chaired by Tim Barnett and includes Nandor as a member. About 85% of the 562 submissions favour law reform, with over half backing Dutch-style cannabis cafes. Green Party researcher and NORML activist Rosalie Steward prepared an analysis of the submissions in September 2002, which used Consensus decisionmaking to attempt to bring "movement" to the issue, however the committee members have shown little movement, sticking to their entrenched viewpoints. At every stage of the inquiry, the Labour government have stalled: before the inquiry was set up, before beginning oral hearings, so that a report was not completed before the election and now again this year. At each stage progress was only made because of pressure from Green Party MP and ex NORML activist Nandor Tanczos. The inquiry was re-started after the election, when it could have been shelved, but it is clear that Labour will not do anything about cannabis law reform unless they are forced to. Now, we must demonstrate that there is public support for law reform. Now is the time for you to write to your MP, or visit them and give them a simple message: "change the law or lose my vote!"

NORML's Submission to the inquiry Full Submission (265 KB HTML) Oral Hearings Reports NORML News overview Part 1 NORML News overview Part 2 May 30 - Wellington June 6 - Wellington July 12/13 - Dunedin July 18 - Wellington August 15 - Auckland September 14 - Hamilton September 20 - Northland October 3 - Auckland October 17 - Christchurch November 7 - Wellington Terms of Reference for the inquiry "To inquire into the most effective public health and health promotion strategies to minimise the use of and the harm associated with cannabis and consequently the most appropriate legal status of cannabis."

News coverage of the Inquiry

Previous New Zealand Inquiries

In 1998 the Health Committee investigated the mental health effects of cannabis, and while it could not look at the actual legal status of cannabis, it found "based on the evidence received, we recommend that the Government review the appropriateness of existing policy on cannabis and its use and reconsider the legal status of cannabis." Click here for more extracts from their report or here to read the full report http://www.gp.co.nz/wooc/i-papers/i6a-cannabis.html

Unless stated otherwise, copyright © 1998-2005 by NORML New Zealand, working for marijuana law reform

Published on: 2003-03-09 (6173 reads)