Editorial: Is this cannabis' big chance?

Julie Anne Genter, Green Party.

The cannabis lobby may well feel it has won the lottery after Green Party health spokeswoman Julie Anne Genter's private member's bill was drawn from the ballot this week.

It would amend the Misuse of Drugs Act to exempt any person with a qualifying medical condition to cultivate and use cannabis for therapeutic purposes, provided they have the support of a registered medical practitioner.

That is far more liberal than Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne's recently-announced removal of restrictions surrounding cannabidiol, or CBD.

Until now, CBD has been classed as a controlled drug, meaning the Ministry of Health needed to approve its use. Extracted from cannabis, it has few or no psychoactive properties and can be used for pain relief.

Ms Genter argues the new rules don't go far enough. Too many people will still miss out either through legislative restraint or cost.

The bill has good initial support from Labour, Maori Party and Act and will pass its first reading if NZ First supports it. The party is awaiting its next caucus meeting before deciding. National and Dunne won't say what their view is.

How far the bill gets from there, and what it might look like if watered-down as it proceeds to legislation, is anyone's guess.

But those suffering a raft of illnesses not currently deemed serious enough to be allowed access to pharmaceutical derivatives of cannabis, or anyone to the real thing, have a glimmer of hope.

Access to something that works and causes virtually no evidence-based harm to most adults, should not be like winning the lottery, but a basic human right.

Widening access to medical cannabis does not mean we abandon protecting our young and vulnerable, but does mean it is no longer at the expense of those with genuine cause or want.

New Zealand has largely ignored calls for more relaxed cannabis laws and laggs behind much of the world, including nine and rising states in USA, in its thinking. It also misses out on significant economic returns all the time it does so.

Ms Genter's bill lends a real opportunity for movement on that thinking.

Perhaps 2017 will prove lucky for those with more progressive views.