Editorial: Heed Peters on medicinal cannabis law

Sooner or later, the medical use of marijuana is certain to be approved in New Zealand.

In little over a year, with a change in the political landscape, the debate on legalising medicinal marijuana has shifted, at least among MPs, from maintaining a ban to clearing the way for its introduction.

For now it seems our politicians have no desire to go further and follow the lead of Uruguay, Canada and some US states to legalise cannabis, but the broad consensus among parties here for the use of medical marijuana represents a sea change.

It is the same in Britain, where the UK chief medical adviser has concluded there is evidence medicinal cannabis has therapeutic benefits.

Before the last election here, National under its previous leader expressed no enthusiasm for anything beyond the status quo. With the formation of the Labour-led Government Coalition, marijuana reform returned to the policy agenda.

There is overwhelming public support for using cannabis products for medical reasons such as pain relief, and strong backing to allow personal possession. This is no surprise given hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders admit using the illegal drug, most for pleasure but clearly some for pain.

But this is not a reason to conflate medical and recreational use of cannabis. Parliament at this point is moving along the medicinal route, though without the consistency that drug reform requires.

For an example of the dangers from this all-too-familiar approach, and the need for evidence-based legislation in this critical area, look no further than the fiasco around methamphetamine testing. It took a clear-eyed report from the Prime Minister's chief science adviser to shine some sanity on that policy.

A Government bill would let terminally ill New Zealanders take the product if they have 12 months left to live. This restriction not surprisingly upset advocates of medicinal cannabis who argue it should be far more widely available.

At the 11th hour last week, National produced its own bill, which it called "a blend of international best practice". It proposes a licensing regime and approval for medicinal cannabis products in the way drugs are approved by Medsafe. Critics argued that the biggest drawback of National's new found endorsement was that it could price the product off the market.

Some specialists urge caution with regards the law change, and their views deserve hearing. Associate Professor Giles Newton-Howes, of the University of Otago, an expert in addiction medicine, is concerned that given the high use of cannabis in New Zealand, mental health problems could surface with some patients.

Still there is a way for MPs to get out of the cul-de-sac that drug reform seems to invite and this is by following the advice of Winston Peters. At the weekend, Peters suggested politicians put tactics aside and make appropriate changes to the draft legislation. If there were defects in the policy then Parliament could fix them. As he pointed out, those who needed medicinal cannabis could not wait. MPs should listen to him.