Brown SimeonSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Thank you Madam Chair for the opportunity to talk to clause 8 of the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill. I've got a number of points that I'd like to make in relation to new section 35E which is proposed to be inserted by clause 8 and essentially the first point I'd like to make is that this is an inserted clause which really has no teeth and really does nothing. It says that (1) The Minister must not later than 2 years after the commencement of this section require the Ministry of Health—(a) to commence a review of the operation of sections 7(2A) and (3A) since the commencement of those subsections; and (b) to prepare a report on the review for the Minister."Essentially this is just another working group. It's another working group. It's going to have a look at the operation of the sections relating to the possession of cannabis by those with a terminal illness and—as has been outlined I think quite clearly already in relation to this—this is something which would if it remained in place undermine the effectiveness of a medicinal cannabis scheme by essentially allowing for the continued consumption of loose-leaf cannabis by those with terminal illnesses when there are available products in place already. So essentially the first point is it's a working group. The second point is it's not really going to actually do anything.All that's required then is for this review to be completed within 12 months—12 months. It's got 12 months to work out whether to basically review those two sections and to see how they've been operating and it's only to comment on whether any amendments to those provisions are necessary or desirable and how it has been implemented. So essentially what we've got here is we've got two sections which allow for those with terminal illness to not be able to be criminalised—a defence is to be put in place—and then that will be reviewed no later than two years after it. That review could take up to one whole year for that to take place—one whole year—and then that review gets presented to the House of Representatives. It gets tabled here in Parliament and all it will do is make some comments. It won't have any teeth. It won't do anything. All it will do is provide a document which will say that this section has been working and doing this and whether any amendments may be necessary or desirable.On this side of the House what we see here are two sections which essentially allow people to use loose-leaf cannabis and no ability and no power put into this legislation to actually say "We will allow that to happen until such time as there are proper medicinal cannabis products in place." You're going to end up with companies looking at New Zealand and saying "Where's the certainty that I'm going to actually be able to provide these products and that those people that I can provide them legally to are not actually going to be undermined and have my market completely undermined by green fairies and other people who decide to provide just loose-leaf cannabis to those people?" They're essentially going to look at New Zealand and say "Well there's no certainty for my investment. There's no certainty around whether I will have a proper market going forward." Essentially they'll decide "Well I won't go to New Zealand; I'll invest elsewhere and look at research and growing and providing medicinal cannabis products elsewhere."This Government and I think the Minister in the chair needs to articulate whether he believes that this section will just essentially allow for those provisions and that defence to be kept in place for a much longer period of time. Does the Government have some intent actually to review the operation of section 7(2)(a) and (3)(a) and whether they should actually be withdrawn and if so why isn't that put in place with a sunset clause or something else to actually say that after a number of years those sections will no longer be available because we will have a properly certifiable Medsafe-approved medicinal cannabis regime put in place which provides proper medicine to those patients who request and who require it so that they can actually access the medicinal cannabis products. That on our side of the House is what we believe is required in New Zealand and what we are arguing for through further passage of this legislation."