Hard News: Kia kaha, Helen Kelly
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Okay: the relevant part seems to be Section 22: Procedure in respect of applications for Minister's consent.
Which – so far as I can see – contains none of the unreasonable requirements listed by Helen.
So I think we're not talking about an amendment to the law here. These are regulations around the law. I think this warrants further pursuit.
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Shane Le Brun, in reply to
The requirements were published here http://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/regulation-health-and-disability-system/medicines-control/medicinal-cannabis#nonph several months after the Alex Renton case. Hospitalization makes sense for cases such as severe epilepsy, as sometimes introducing THC in any amount can make a dire situation worse, but in the context of chronic pain, MS, palliative care etc, that requirement is over the top. What we need is for some of the high quality products from overseas to have provisional status as pharmaceutical grade medicines, circumventing the requirements for animal studies and human trials, which seems redundant given the plant and its ingredients is one of the more researched drugs on the planet.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Ah, thanks Shane. That's what I was after. It's intriguing to see how recent this is.
I'll add something to the post.
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Doctors are generally very interested in bioethics and many hospitals have informal clinical ethics committees where clinicians seek input from their colleagues about difficult ethical issues. I imagine there are some serious discussions going on about this topic. They could also be powerful advocates for change.
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Geoff Lealand, in reply to
Yes, she has a nobility that some other public figures lack.
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Medsafe have application forms for sativex and information can be found here
http://www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/riss/sativex.aspApplications can be for "unapproved" use e.g. pain - not just for the approved use as "an add-on treatment for symptom improvement in patients with moderate to severe spasticity due to Multiple Sclerosis who have not responded adequately to other anti-spasticity medication and who demonstrate clinically significant improvement in spasticity related symptoms during an initial trial of therapy."
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Alfie, in reply to
Even Medsafe seem to have the wrong end of the stick.
Sativex is considered to be a desirable and divertible pharmaceutical due to the inherent nature of its active substances.
Hmmm. $1,000 for a small bottle that's half (non-psychoactive) CDB when you can buy three or four ounces of easily available weed for the same price? I can't see too many drug fiends chasing up Sativex on the black market.
In fact, has there ever been a single reported case of Sativex being misused in NZ? This attitude suggests civil service paranoia rather than the result of any genuine scientific analysis. Maybe the Ministry is staffed with Bob McCoskrie clones.
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Bart Janssen, in reply to
There is also the aspect that most cannabis use is still smoking - which given the problems with tobacco seems daft.
Prohibition has a long history of failure - yet the flip side is that we don't really want smoking normalised in any way. Bizarrely at the moment cannabis use appears to be a gateway drug for tobacco :(.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
In fact, has there ever been a single reported case of Sativex being misused in NZ?
I've never seen one cited.
It seems relevant to note that the British government's Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs has come to a completely different conclusion:
As Sativex has a low abuse potential and low risk of diversion, the ACMD also advises that it is not appropriate to apply Regulation 27 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. The ACMD does not consider the witnessing requirements set out in Regulation 27 necessary for Sativex.
It's hard to know where Medsafe et al even get this idea from.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Hmmm. $1,000 for a small bottle that’s half (non-psychoactive) CDB when you can buy three or four ounces of easily available weed for the same price? I can’t see too many drug fiends chasing up Sativex on the black market.
Especially given that the CBD mitigates the effect of the THC. So they're going to take their $1000 bottle to a lab and attempt to separate the two cannabinoids? Really?
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Shane Le Brun, in reply to
I have spoken with a long time MC user who was making high THC alcohol extracts for Nausea. They rated their "high" when using it responsibly as 6/10. They are now on Sativex and rate it as a 1/10, less mental effect than a lowly diazepam. Of note was that Sativex was slightly less effective for the Nausea and appetite, however the improvement in Sleep, and anxiety (decades of high THC I suspect) was remarkable.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
however the improvement in Sleep, and anxiety (decades of high THC I suspect) was remarkable.
Yeah, that makes sense, given the CBD content. Hopefully one day soon we'll see some serious attention given to CBD as a low-impact medicine for anxiety disorders.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
I'm too old for this discussion...
- you say THC and CBD and I think Tourist Hotel Corporation and Central Business District
- I fear I must need some kind of neuro-inhibiter! -
nzlemming, in reply to
In unsurprising news, Bob McCoskrie is an arsehole.
This need not have been said.
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Helen Kelly has always been a class act (in the best possible meaning of the words) but she is taking it even higher.
I was so impressed with her stance on the TV1 news tonight - I hope Peter Dunne feels lower than a shadow, yet he still has a choice on his future - just what is he afraid of?
That someone who shouldn't have access to a restricted drug might gain access somehow?
Hello? Isn't that describing underage drinking...
Meanwhile someone who needs it is kept from access by ridiculously convoluted hurdles - her comment about whether she should have to research her own Chemo and then get it approved by Peter Dunne was spot on.
She is my New Zealander of the year! -
Rosemary McDonald, in reply to
She is my New Zealander of the year!
And mine.
I tried to find a way of getting her on the list of "Women of Influence..."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/women-of-influence/72481802/Women-of-Influence-2015-The-finalists
...but she did not seem to fit any of the categories.
The woman is in a class of her own.
(Dunne is being so constipated over this...has he been taking too many codeine based analgesics?)
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Joe Boden, in reply to
If it’s not Judge Laura Norder (who counts McCoskrie among her supporters) who’s holding back reform, then it’s quite possibly Big Pharma, Big Booze, or Big Chemicals. Or a combination of both.
It's Big Pharma.
As part of my research work in cannabis, a few months ago I was asked to review a white paper by a group opposing cannabis legalization in the US state of Vermont. The white paper was a response to a RAND Corporation study examining the likely impacts of legalization on the health of Vermont residents, as well as economic impacts for the state. The RAND study presented several compelling arguments for legalization that I won't repeat here, but the white paper did little to rebut those arguments.
Out of curiosity I looked into the organizations that had provided the funding for the group opposing cannabis legalization. There are in fact two major lobbying organizations in the US (one of them was behind the white paper in question), and both are funded in large part by the pharmaceutical industry.
I would think this sheds all the light needed on the reasons for this government's total opposition to decriminalization.
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I stumbled across this just now. It's striking how much of our present drug law mess is down to that prick Simon Power's out-of-hand dismissal of the Law Commission review:
The report says there is "no reason why cannabis should not be able to be used for medicinal purposes in limited circumstances".
Under a proposed scheme, people suffering from chronic or debilitating illnesses would be able to use cannabis under medical supervision, particularly where conventional treatment options had proven ineffective.
Cannabis cultivators would be licensed to provide medicinal marijuana in the same way as other legitimate dealers in controlled drugs, the report said.
Justice Minister Simon Power today said he would be interested in submissions on the report but he would not allow medicinal use of cannabis.
"There is not a single solitary chance that as long as I'm the Minister of Justice that we'll be relaxing drug laws in New Zealand," Mr Power said.
Mr Power's comments were at odds with the report, which suggested there should be less emphasis on conviction and punishment for low level drug users and more on treatment.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
In unsurprising news, Bob McCoskrie is an arsehole.
This need not have been said.
But it did feel good saying it.
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Brent Jackson, in reply to
In unsurprising news, Simon Power is a twatcock ...
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Simon Power is a twatcock
I knew he was a head of wet spackle or something like that…
Simon Power was appointed General Manager, Consumer Banking & Wealth in May 2015. The business unit incorporates Westpac’s retail network, together with small business and the Private Wealth Management division.
Prior to his current appointment he held the roles of General Manager, Business Bank, Private Bank, Wealth & Insurance; Managing Director, Private, Wealth & Insurance and before that, Head of Private Bank for Westpac New Zealand Limited.
Simon joined Westpac in 2012 following a 12 year career as a Member of Parliament in New Zealand. Between 2008–2011 he served as Minister of Justice, Minister of Commerce and Minister of State Owned Enterprises, among other portfolios.
During that period he led significant reform and change in financial market oversight and regulation in NZHasn’t he done well…
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chris, in reply to
Hopefully one day soon we’ll see some serious attention given to CBD as a low-impact medicine for anxiety disorders.
While giving high quality products from overseas provisional status as pharmaceutical grade medicines would provide more options, what many chronic pain sufferers need right now is dispensation to import and grow strains such as these which have already been bred to provide a comparable and even better CBD:THC ratios than Sativex e.g. CBD Critical Cure THC: 5,5%, CBD: 8%.
Given that once cannabis is planted in can be kept alive indefinitely using artificial light regimens, the overall cost to the producer/consumer/ Government would be negligible compared to the NZD our Government is prepared to squander on Sativex and for that matter any other importable value added products. Currently this is no holy grail, it’s not rocket science, it’s biology. The existence and availability (or lack of) of this refined produce, cultivatable in a garden with little maintenance, highlights just how ludicrous this situation has become.
The only thing more ludicrous than our elected representatives’ shamanistic aspirations is the general population’s entrenched desire to kowtow to these farcical ambitions by complying with these preposterous antiquated authoritarian regulations. I would be laughing if it weren’t for the chronic pain.
Still, if I myself harbored designs on controlling and manipulating others’ pain and were contemplating a career as a witch doctor, Simon Power would be high on my list of potential nom de guerre.
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chris, in reply to
If it’s not Judge Laura Norder (who counts McCoskrie among her supporters) who’s holding back reform, then it’s quite possibly Big Pharma, Big Booze, or Big Chemicals. Or a combination of both.
It’s Big Pharma.
And I can’t imagine many here would disagree with you there Joe and DeepRed, in fact I doubt many informed citizens could meaningfully disagree.
So based on the assumption that this is true; that our pharmaceutical industry or our alcohol industry or our tobacco industry etc and the legislation that regulates these industries, and the Government that implements the legislation already seems to be leveraged to such an extent as to be markedly compromised – to the detriment of measurable segments of the population, what can be done?
Preserving our sovereignty is a pillar that many TPPA opponents (for example) cite as a key reason for their opposition – amid meetings with foreign industry leaders, tax-payer funded royal meet and greets, foreign navel visits or extradition cases of dubious merit – that’s just what’s visible.
The idea of sovereignty has always been more of a comparative than a superlative in this British colony. Movements to preserve or protect this very variable variable – as the crux of informed debate make for feather-lite arguments - especially when presented within a definitional and historical vacuum as is so often the case.
More to the point – is the TPPA likely provide any light in the area of cannabis (de)regulation?
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chris, in reply to
*and foreign naval visits…
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Northland woman's family wins full public funding of Sativex.
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