A proposed law change could ensure terminally ill people with less than a year to live won't be prosecuted for possessing cannabis, however not everyone is satisfied the bill goes far enough.
Executive director of the NZ Drug Foundation Ross Bell told TVNZ1's Breakfast today that the bill allows the Ministry of Health to create a medicinal cannabis scheme, "and we don't know what the detail of that scheme is going to look like".
He said what is known is that there will be a legal defence given to people with a terminal illness with less than a year to live, "so if you're in possession or consuming cannabis and you have a terminal illness, you have a defence so you won't be prosecuted".
Mr Bell said that defence should be extended to others. "It shouldn't be restricted to terminal patients."
The amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 passed its first reading in parliament in February.
It was lodged alongside a Member's bill by Green MP Chloe Swarbrick that would have gone a step further and allowed certain people to also grow their own supply. That proposal was voted down.
When asked by Breakfast host Jack Tame how many people with terminal illnesses using cannabis were arrested and prosecuted, Mr Bell said, "probably none".
However Green MP Chloe Swarbrick's bill will be a test to see how far MPs want to go, the PM said. (Source: Other)
"I think the police do properly use their discretion... The bill, in that respect, is kind of unnecessary."
However there were people, especially those supplying to those patients, who were being prosecuted under New Zealand drug law, Mr Bell said.
"We think they should be protected. We're saying the definition of the defence should be extended beyond people with terminal illness to other illnesses, and for that protection to also be given to the so-called 'green fairies', the carers who are supplying this medicine."
Mr Bell said this sort of policy framework could be established through the proposed Ministry of Health scheme, but it could take "a number of years".
"We've got this real challenge, the patients want access and the doctors are really sceptical" due to the lack of detail of the potential Ministry of Health scheme.
"There's a lot of stuff that needs to be fixed up in this bill, a lot of detail that isn't there. I think the government is going to have to rush pretty quickly to give us that detail."
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