A lot has happened since then – mostly related to Covid – but there has been almost no progress on cannabis law reform.
Police need clear guidance and policy statements of what is expected – like the tolerance for going a few k’s over the speed limit – rather than leaving it to the judgement of individual officers.
Rather than abdicating responsibility and leaving it to individual officers to decide, Health Minister Andrew Williams and Police Minister Poto Williams should declare what they expect of police and the public, in very specific terms. For example, the presumptions of supply for cannabis in the existing law are possession of up to 28 grams and growing up to 10 plants – so tell police to give warnings for amounts below that.
The US state of Illinois, which legalised cannabis last year along similar lines as NZ’s referendum, just raked up US$1 billion in sales so far in 2021.
Keeping cannabis illicit may even have contributed to some Covid spread, as many transactions still happen face to face, and providers who don’t follow rules are to be expected in illicit markets.
Instead, we are left with a Big Pharma-loving scheme that has no place for herbalists, caregivers, Green Fairies, old school growers, hemp farmers, or anyone who doesn’t have a share market listing or the backing of a billionaire.
It pains me to talk with colleagues in Australia and Columbia, as I did this week, and discover that Australian patients have access to hundreds of products including dozens of strains of flowers.
I’ve written in more detail about that here with five changes in this area that could make a huge difference: let patients and caregivers import prescriptions that cannot be filled here, or let them grow by extending the palliative care defence to cultivation; revise the ludicrous product quality standards that are the toughest in the world ; break up the large verticals by stopping them from both growing and manufacturing; allow pharmacies to compound bulk supplies like they can in Australia, the UK and Germany; and bring back the herbal pathway that was originally proposed for making and prescribing herbal cannabis products.
You can be sure that if the shoe was on the other foot – if Yes had squeaked in by a tiny sliver – then that Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill would have been watered down to take account of such a narrow victory.
Chris Fowlie is the president of the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws NZ Inc; developer of the CHOISE model for cannabis social equity; CEO of Zeacann Limited, a cannabis science company; co-founder of the New Zealand Medical Cannabis Council; co-founder of The Hempstore Aotearoa; resident expert for Marijuana Media on 95bFM; cannabis blogger for The Daily Blog, and court-recognised independent expert witness for cannabis.