Marcroft JennyJENNY MARCROFT (NZ First): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. It's a pleasure to stand on behalf of New Zealand First and take my call and put my contribution to the House on this the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill. It is a pleasure to speak to this bill. I just would like to begin my contribution by thanking the Minister of Health the Hon Dr David Clark for working so cooperatively with New Zealand First on this bill. It was a pleasure for me to work with you so I'd like to thank the Minister. Also thank you to the Health Committee for the work on this bill. I make note of the contribution of the chair of the committee Louisa Wall and also the deputy chair Dr Shane Reti. I've just recently joined this committee and it really is a pleasure to be a part of this group of very hard-working members. There were many submitters who spoke to this bill—many hundreds of submitters—and I feel that we heard you and we have taken a step further than what was originally drafted. Also for laying bare your stories your mamae your stories of the pain and the suffering—and we really shouldn't take that lightly. I acknowledge all of those who made their submissions whether it was written or they had oral evidence submitted. Hikurangi Enterprises—it's been a pleasure to get to know Manu Caddie and to hear about their operation and what they hope for in terms of economic development for Ruatōria. So a thank you to him for helping me understand what they are trying to do inside of this. Just commenting back to Louisa Wall's contribution and the seven amendments that were made inside the Health Committee and the five making it to Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) 177. A good amount of work was done in that process. Also too Sativex which she mentioned is a product that is currently available by prescription and it is for some extremely expensive and therefore out of reach for many people. Some people are having to pay around $1200 per month to access this medicinal product. I have a friend. For his daughter it costs him $500 a month so that's on perhaps the lower end and he can well afford it but it is prohibitive for many. So we set out as a Government to make this product more readily available—a good high-quality product—and easily accessible because the price point was putting it out of reach for all New Zealanders. Looking now at what the bill sets out to do we did find as a coalition a common way forward together for our approach to medicinal cannabis. Now those of us who have watched loved ones pass from the likes of cancer as I have—I've watched my mother who had breast cancer. It took four years for her to die. That was a long long number of years to watch the pain and suffering as eventually she was riddled with cancer. Also too a double whammy for me because I had a foster mother who also passed from cancer so I do understand from a personal lived experience what it is like to watch that end-of-life phase—that process of someone dying in extreme pain but slowly. And that's the thing—it can take a very long time. So I'll talk more to that about why we added and did a language change around the palliation in just a moment. New Zealand First believes that the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill shows compassion to those who are dying in terrible pain and this is why we support this legislation. Currently yes we've mentioned that there is a legal pathway for people to obtain medicinal cannabis products on prescription from a medical practitioner. However as I've referenced already access to affordable medicinal cannabis products is problematic for many New Zealanders. So to address this the Government agreed late last year—just a year ago—to introduce the medicinal cannabis scheme and to amend the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975. So this bill sets out to do a few things—important things. It will introduce the exception and statutory defence for people in palliation to possess and use illicit cannabis and to possess a cannabis utensil it will also provide a regulation-making power to enable the setting of standards that products manufactured imported or supplied under licence must meet and also it will de-schedule cannabidiol—also referred to as CBD—so that it's no longer a controlled drug. The scheme will be overseen by an agency that will result in medicinal cannabis products being able to be commercially produced in New Zealand and it will ensure that all medicinal cannabis products meet quality standards and that all stages of cultivation production and supply of medicinal cannabis will be licensed. So there's going to be great oversight on it. Looking now at what palliation is—and this is the language change that I referenced earlier. Originally when the bill came into the House it referenced terminal illness" and people having less than 12 months to live would have that statutory defence. However through SOP 177 from the Minister we see that is now changed out to "palliation" and this could affect up to around 25000 people per year. So that's extending it to a larger number of people who are suffering and dying in pain. Looking at the World Health Organization definition of what is palliation: "Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness". It will provide "relief from pain and other distressing symptoms;" it "affirms life and regards dying as a normal process;" it "intends neither to hasten or postpone death;" it "offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death;" and it "offers a support system to help the family cope during the patient's illness and in their own bereavement;". I mentioned earlier my mother who died. It took four years for cancer to take her and on pretty much her deathbed—she was in Rotorua Hospital by the end—my brother was with her. One of the final things she said was "Why does it take so long to die?" and that's a statement that is etched in my heart. It's etched in my DNA. That is why we are very supportive of extending out the statutory defence for those who are in palliation. It does take a long time to die for some people and we see that this is a compassionate response to those who need this. So the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill that we are passing here today really is a collaborative work across these Government parties. Consensus was reached and again I'd like to acknowledge the Minister the Hon Dr David Clark for his efforts and also too the Green Party member Chlöe Swarbrick for working constructively with us on this bill as well. So finally I commend this bill to the House."