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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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NZ: Medicinal marijuana bill unlikely to get the green light
3 News Tuesday 30 Jun 2009 The Greens are pushing for a law change, but they may not get it. For campaigners, it is a grassroots message - cannabis is a safe medicine. That view is shared by Greens co-leader Metiria Turei, who wants Parliament to make cannabis legal for those who need it. "It's medically proven to be effective," says Ms Turei. "There are tight controls in the legislation to prevent abuse and misuse of a medicinal approach." Ms Turei's bill would see doctors prescribing cannabis for any one of 22 approved illnesses. Patients would get an ID card to cultivate, possess and consume marijuana, or they could nominate a grower. Police would have lists of both users and growers. Campaigners say it is high time for debate. "We're trying to get the MPs to support it through to the select committee, so that people who are using medical cannabis and are supported by their doctors can no longer get arrested and placed in jail," says Green Cross campaigner Billy McKee. But few MPs are backing the bill. "The main problem is it's cannabis," says Ross Bell, director of the Drug Foundation. "Any time that this country tries to talk about cannabis in a sensible way, we fail. The politics, the hysteria come to play and people think that medicinal cannabis might be a back-door way to legalisation." And that is precisely how United Future sees it. "Making the leaf available is simply a back-door way of making it more widely available to everyone," says party leader Peter Dunne. "So no, no support." "On the medical point of view, the science is clear - it has medical benefits for a set range of illnesses," says Mr Bell. The ACT Party agrees. "There's very good scientific evidence to show that some medical conditions are improved by the use of cannabis," says MP Heather Roy. That scientific view is why medicinal cannabis is already used in 13 US states, Canada, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands, where patients grow their own or purchase cannabis with a prescription. watch video http://www.3news.co.nz/Video/Politics/tabid/370/articleID/110863/cat/64/Default.aspx#video http://www.3news.co.nz/
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