After years of stagnation, it seems that talk of marijuana reform in New Zealand is gaining real momentum.
At the beginning of June, the country’s Associate Health Minister, Peter Dunne, announced that doctors are permitted to prescribe CBD for patients in need.
A week later, a private member’s bill put forth by the Green Party was chosen for debate within the government. When Marijuana.com interviewed the author of the bill, Julie Anne Genter, she said that the bill carried weight because of a “groundswell of public support” on the issue.
At the beginning of July, in an effort to move the conversation forward, the New Zealand Drug Foundation (NZDF) held a Parliamentary Symposium that called for a regulated cannabis market as well as the decriminalization of all drugs.
The NZDF also invited Canadian politician and Chair of the Canadian federal marijuana task force, Anne McLellan, to speak about Canada’s experience in pot legalization.
This week, the Green Party ramped up its efforts for legalizing personal cultivation and consumption by launching its “420 reasons to vote Green” campaign.
On July 12, Green Party MP Gareth Hughes tweeted a picture at 4:20 p.m. of newly printed stickers with the aforementioned slogan:
Last August, the New Zealand Drug Foundation published a poll which showed that “64 percent of respondents think possessing a small amount of cannabis for personal use should be either legal (33%) or decriminalised (31%), with a minority (34%) in favour of retaining prohibition.”
credit:marijuana.com
