Green MP Chloe Swarbrick made an impassioned speech on medicinal cannabis, reading out the story of a woman who looks after her father after National pulled their support for the Government's bill.
"Patients deserve a guarantee of access, affordable, consistent supply. We're talking here about people's lives, not just facts and figure on statistical sheets," Ms Swarbrick told Parliament yesterday.
Ms Swarbrick read out the story from a woman named Jasmine who cares for her father.
"My dad sustained a neuro-toxic brain injury via his occupation in 2001 and has a degenerative spinal condition," Ms Swarbrick read.
"He suffers from a range of medical problems, including severe mental illness, nerve damage, and inability to walk or stand unaided for more than a few minutes. He spends most of his life confined to a bed and will soon require a wheelchair.
"Cannabis allows my father many benefits that cannot be obtained with the use of any other single drug, without the risk of heavy addiction or chemical interactions with his other medications.
"This man is a pensioner who contributed 30 years of his life to the workforce, raised two children, was permanently injured and made to fight for rightful compensation, had his wife taken by cancer, and, due to current legislation, is a criminal who will face two years minimum prison sentence should the police ever wish to search our property."
National confirmed yesterday it would be pulling support for the Government's own medicinal cannabis bill, saying it "utterly fails" at creating the right regulatory and legislative controls alongside giving Kiwis greater medicinal cannabis access to ease suffering.
It came at the same time the Health Select Committee came to a deadlock on the Government's bill and could not recommend it.
National yesterday dropped its support for the Government’s bill, on the day a Select Committee reported back. (Source: Other)
National have put forward their own member's bill, which will only go through Parliament if picked from the ballot.
It proposes a licensing regime and approval for medicinal cannabis products in the way medicine is approved by Metsafe.
Ms Swarbrick's own medicinal cannabis member's bill was voted down on January 31. It went further than the Government's bill and would have allowed patients who are dying and those with chronic pain to grow their own cannabis.
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