Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill

Thank you, Mr Chair. The Government is committed to improving access to medicinal cannabis by establishing a medicinal cannabis scheme and amending the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975. The scheme, overseen by an agency, will ensure that medicinal cannabis products are able to be commercially produced in New Zealand. We know that there is a global shortage of products with known quality, and it will ensure that all medicinal cannabis products that are created in New Zealand are of a suitable quality.

The Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill 2017 introduced an exception and a statutory defence for terminally ill people with less than 12 months to live to possess and to use illicit cannabis and to possess a cannabis utensil. It provides a regulation-making power to enable the setting of standards that medicinal cannabis products must meet, and it deschedules cannabidiol, also referred to as CBD, so it is no longer a controlled drug. I propose to make a number of changes to improve the bill through a Supplementary Order Paper (SOP). These changes will improve the workability of the bill and reflect concerns made by submitters.

The Supplementary Order Paper that I am bringing to the committee will do several things. Firstly, it will increase the number of people eligible to use illicit cannabis by replacing the references to terminal illness in the exception and statutory defence provisions with references to palliation. I want to acknowledge Jenny Marcroft from the New Zealand First Party for her good advice and work around this to ensure that we have a definition that is used internationally. It will expand the scope of that palliative care defence for the use of illicit cannabis. I want to thank Ms Marcroft for the very constructive way in which she has engaged with that and pass on my thanks to New Zealand First.

Secondly, it will move the exception for people requiring palliation to be able to possess and use illicit cannabis to section 8 of the Misuse of Drugs Act so that it is located with similar provisions that already exist in the Act.

Thirdly, it will allow regulations to prescribe standards for all stages of cultivation, production, and manufacture, and criteria for when the regulations will apply. The technical detail of the standards will be published by the Director-General of Health.

Fourthly, it will control only those substances naturally found in cannabis that are related to THCs and are capable of producing a psychoactive effect.

Fifthly, it will revise the definition of cannabidiol products to allow no more than 2 percent of the total CBD, THCs, and related psychoactive substances’ content to consist of THCs and related psychoactive substances that are naturally found in cannabis. It will require regulations to allow the use of cannabis varieties that were previously established in New Zealand without authorisation.

Finally, I want to thank the Greens for that particular provision, recognising that there are strains established in New Zealand, which would not necessarily need to be imported, that may contain additional properties when we’re setting up a scheme, and that we may wish to use locally but also, potentially, export in the future.

And, finally, my thanks also to the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand for their work around developing a provision that would require the regulations to come into effect no later than a year after this provision of the bill comes into force.

So those are the changes proposed in my SOP. I do believe that they make the bill a better and stronger bill. I want to thank members of the coalition Government who have engaged on this so constructively, and our confidence and supply partners, to ensure that we have a bill that achieves what it set out to achieve: to actually make sure that we have the compassionate defence, as it should be, allowing people in the final stages of life who find comfort in illicit products to access those products themselves without fear of prosecution. It will ensure that we have the correct standards around our own scheme that we’ll set up in New Zealand, recognising the international shortage of products that meet the guidelines that doctors want to prescribe. The bill will also deschedule cannabidiol, referred to as CBD, to make sure that it’s no longer a controlled drug.

So, taken together, the factors in this bill make it the most progressive piece of legislation that’s been put through this House and significantly will improve access to medicinal cannabis for those who need it.

I want just quickly, before we get too far into this debate, to comment on some of the other SOPs brought before the House—

Sorry to interrupt the Minister, but it has come time for me to report progress.

House resumed.

The Chairperson reported the Employment Relations Amendment Bill with amendment and progress on the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill.

Report adopted.

The House adjourned at 9.56 p.m.