Timaru man Peter Davy yesterday avoided jail after being prosecuted for growing cannabis, which he says was used to treat his seriously ill partner’s chronic pain.
Justice Minister Simon Power has said he won’t legalise medicinal cannabis - something Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei says is hurting ill New Zealanders.
Ms Turei told Firstline this morning that while a judge showed compassion in sentencing Peter Davy to home detention, the threat of jail isn’t appropriate.
“The question is, should he even have been subjected to the court process? Should he continue to be threatened with jail time? The judge has said to him if he’s caught again he will go to jail,” she says.
“I don’t think that’s appropriate when you have ill New Zealanders who need to be treated with compassion.”
She says current drug law is “irrational” and prevents people who have “medicinal or abuse issues” with cannabis from getting help.
“People who have issues with cannabis… actually can’t find a legal means by which to sort these problems out, because they’re so frightened of the law,” she says.
Ms Turei says the Green Party has proposed legislation which would manage the “complex issue” of regulating medicinal cannabis use by placing the decisions in the hands of medical professionals.
“The legislation… would make the decision around using medicinal cannabis one that’s made by a doctor and their patient,” she says.
Patients would then be registered with the police and with health professionals, which Ms Turei says would ensure all the relevant authorities were aware of the situation.
“That’s one way of managing quite a complex issue that’s about taking care of New Zealanders who are very ill,” she says.
The Law Commission and New Zealand Medical Association support clinical trials of medicinal cannabis, Ms Turei says, and the Law Commission has said there is a “moral imperative” for the Government to undertake clinical trials.
“The authorities who know about these issues want there to be a change, but politicians are resisting for no good reason and ill New Zealanders are being hurt as a result,” she says.
Watch the video for the full interview
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