Medicinal Cannabis Bill put to historic vote this week - New Zealand

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Medicinal Cannabis Bill put to historic vote this week

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei's private member's Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill will be put to a first vote on Member's Day this Wednesday 1st July 2009.

This is the first time that a bill aimed at rolling back some of the harsher provisions of our War on Drugs has ever been put to a vote in the New Zealand Parliament. This is well behind many other developed and affluent nations who have already put forth medical cannabis laws. And yet all previous amendments to the Misuse of Drugs Act have been aimed at making sanctions tougher and even more inhumane.

NORML calls upon all Members of Parliament to put aside politics, show compassion and support this Bill for its First Reading. Let the issue go to select committee so it can be debated and the people of New Zealand can have their say.

Why the bill is needed

Cannabis is a safe and effective medicine for a wide range of conditions, including pain relief, appetite stimulation, nausea, brain injury, stroke, cancer, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, hypertension, glaucoma, arthritis and Alzheimer's.

Although these findings have been documented, doctors are ignored and intimidated and patients often arrested and jailed because of the criminal status of cannabis. Patients are forced to take addictive and more harmful prescriptions drugs (such as morphine) rather than a natural herb that has been described by The Lancet as the “aspirin of the 21st century”.

While the Misuse of Drugs Act allows the Minister of Health to allow the medicinal use of cannabis, no application has ever been approved. The Minister has in recent months approved 5 applications to use the cannabis extract Sativex. This is a great start, but does not go far enough. Extrapolating from Australian research, an estimated 11,000 New Zealanders may already be using cannabis for pain relief or other medicinal uses. These patients continue to suffer or are forced to break the law.

Letting patients grow their own medicinal cannabis is not unusual

Many nations around the world now allow the medicinal use of whole natural cannabis, including:

USA: thirteen states have legalised medicinal cannabis, allowing patients to grow their own, buy it from dispensaries, or in some cases have it supplied by state-licensed producers. A small number of patients also receive pre-rolled joints from the Federal government. Alternatively, patients may also be prescribed Marinol (synthetic THC). Click here for a Summary of US state medical cannabis programs
Canada: patients can either get Sativex, grow their own, or are sent cannabis grown for the Government.
Australia: NSW is re-launching a programme to allow patients to grow their own or be prescribed Sativex.
The Netherlands: patients can grow up to 5 plants, or be prescribed one of three cannabis strains from the Bureau of Medicinal Cannabis.
Germany: patients can purchase Dutch medicinal cannabis from their German pharmacies, or may be prescribed Dronabinol (synthetic THC).
Spain: patients can grow their own or be prescribed Sativex.
Israel: patients can grow their own, or are supplied with an extract made from police seizures.

Legalising medicinal use of cannabis defeated!
Newstalk ZB July 2, 2009, 8:37 am

An attempt to legalise the medicinal use of cannabis has gone up in smoke.

Green Party Co-Leader Metiria Turei spoke passionately in favour of her Private members' Bill in Parliament last night. She urged MPs to help provide some relief for New Zealanders who suffer chronic and terminal illnesses.

"I consider it an act of cruelty for this parliament to deny ill New Zealanders the best best medication for them."

But Associate Health Minister Jonathan Coleman opposed the move and questioned Ms Turei's motivations.

"Is their concern really about the medicinal applications of cannabis or is it more about trying to bring cannabis into the main stream as an accepted part of New Zealand society?"
The Bill was defeated in a conscience vote by 86 votes to 34.
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Archive Information:
Tetraplegic Jailed For Medicinal Cannabis.

The Green Party has taken up the case of a tetraplegic man who was imprisoned for growing six cannabis plants for medicinal purposes.
Danuiel Clark suffered a severe spinal injury in a motor accident in 1991, leaving him confined to a wheelchair with no use of his body from the neck down. He suffers from constant pain, muscle spasms and side effects from highly addictive prescription drugs.

He is currently in Mount Eden prison after being sentenced to three weeks in prison after refusing to pay a fine or some sort of periodic detention following his conviction for cultivation of cannabis.

Danuiel uses cannabis as a pain killer and to combat the negative side effects of his prescription drugs that he must take every day.

The Ministry of Health has limited powers to approve cannabis for medicinal use and for experiments.

In 1994 Danuiel applied to the then Minister of Health Jenny Shipley, requesting permission to grow small amounts of cannabis, under supervision, for medicinal purposes. Alternately he requested that he be prescribed the drug by the state from police seizures. Delegated authority for this area led with Associate Minister, Maurice Williamson.

His application was accompanied by a supporting letter from his spinal specialist Dr O.R. Nicholson who has over 40 years experience in dealing with spinal patients and a letter from a general practitioner Dr John Lusk.

In Dr Lusk’s letter, released under the Official Information Act, he noted that Danuiel’s quality of life had been “severely compromised” by his injury and subsequent complications and that “all efforts to treat [his] condition with conventional medication have not only been unsuccessful, but have also been plagued by totally unacceptable side effects”.

He noted that cannabis use had “a dramatic effect on all of his symptoms. It proved invaluable in relieving his muscle spasms and relieved the pain which is a constant feature of his condition”.

“In Danuiel’s situation I believe that you will see that the benefits [of allowing him to use cannabis] far outweigh any possible disadvantages, both in a medical and a social sense,” he said.

However Ministers delegated the decision to the Manager of Therapeutics at the Ministry of Health who declined the application, saying that more information was needed on the medicinal benefits of cannabis use.

This was despite the Health Ministry advising that Danuiel satisfied all criteria to permit the application.

A number of states around the world permit the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

Green Party MP Jeanette Fitzsimons has taken up the case as Danuiel is a constituent and she had been approached by Auckland Green candidate Nandor Tanczos who Danuiel had asked for help.

Fitzsimons said it was an indictment on the justice system that Danuiel was imprisoned for trying to relieve constant and unbearable pain. “Sending this man to jail is totally pointless,” she said. “Mr Clark is no threat to the community and he has been convicted for a totally victimless crime.”

Jeanette Fitzsimons said the situation was urgent as Danuiel had not been getting adequate nursing care in prison. “Danuiel says he was not taken to the toilet for four days and nights and was left in his own excrement,” she said. “When he fell out of bed it was hours before he was picked up.”

This incident allegedly occurred at Waikeria prison. Danuiel is now in Mount Eden and is getting 24 hour nursing care. Waikeria Prison are issuing a statement today.

“Sending this man to prison in a wheelchair for what he has done shows the sheer inhumanity of our justice and prison systems. Instead of the government’s touted harm minimisation approach to cannabis, this is an example of harm maximisation,” she said.

Ms Fitzsimons has offered to meet with Danuiel this week and if asked would take his case to the appropriate Minister. She said his conviction should be quashed.

“This man has suffered through losing the use of his body and now he is imprisoned for trying to make his life a little more bearable.

“It is inhumane, cruel and totally unnecessary,” she said.
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HAMILTON -- A Waikato tetraplegic who claimed he was left to wallow in his own excrement when jailed for growing cannabis is upset that a billionaire walked free on similar charges.
Waihi beneficiary Danuiel Clark, who grows and smokes cannabis to relieve pain, says it is unfair he was jailed for 21 days and the billionaire America's Cup visitor was let off and given name suppression.

The 66-year-old visiting businessman appeared in the Otahuhu District Court on Friday.

He admitted three importing drugs charges after being caught with more than 100g of cannabis leaf and resin.

Judge David Harvey discharged him without conviction and said suppression was appropriate because naming the businessman would "far outweigh" the crime.

Mr Clark, whose two bank accounts each have less than $100, said that was unfair.

"Do the courts only work ... by how healthy your bank account is? They threw me in jail."

Mr Clark became a tetraplegic after a road accident in 1991.

He said smoking cannabis relieved pain while stronger, legally prescribed drugs such as morphine and valium left him a "zombie".

The 30-year-old was jailed last July after police caught him growing six 30cm-high cannabis seedlings in a wardrobe. It was his seventh cannabis conviction.

He refused to do community service or pay a fine and was sent to Waikeria Prison.

He later claimed that no-one at the prison took him to the toilet and he was left to wallow in his own excrement for four days.

Waikeria Prison has said his claims are untrue.

Mr Clark, a legalise-cannabis activist and spokesman for the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, has vowed to continue smoking and growing cannabis.

Waihi police Senior Sergeant Brian Millar refused to comment on Mr Clark but he added: "We just enforce the law, everything's black and white as far as I'm concerned."