Allan KiritapuKIRITAPU ALLAN (Labour): I'm still a green member in this House—no pun intended—but I may just have a little more faith hope and aspiration in our political system if we were to indeed support this bill which may have some flaws and I think there are a few. But if we support this bill through to the select committee the members of the public that have been engaging with every single member of this House for the past few months will in fact have the chance to have their say. I rise to speak in support of this bill at its first reading and those that know me personally know that I have found the position that I'm taking this evening a very hard one to take. Within my communities—and indeed like my colleague Nikki Kaye over the opposite side of the aisle I know that drug use its impacts and its harm within my own family and my own life have indeed shaped my outlook. But when I took my oath and when I took my seat within this House I took an oath that I would keep my eyes open regardless of my own personal convictions and that I would keep my ears open and would be open to engage with the debate. I put up a forceful argument in opposition to this bill for a number of months as many members of this House will know. I put up opposition because I was afraid of many of the comments that have come throughout this room about the deregulation the increase in harm and so on and so forth. The challenge always put back to me from every single person who was an expert within this field was Kiri go and read the research. Go and look at the work that is being done across the world in jurisdictions where medicinal cannabis has been legalised." Indeed I did and what I must say—and I look particularly to the example over in Canada. Canada has done extensive work on looking into the implications of marijuana for personal use and indeed medicinal cannabis but there was one particular report that looked into the implications of cultivation for personal production which is an area that I have particular concerns about. The arguments effectively were two-part. One—and I think we have heard a bit of the scaremongering from both sides of the House tonight—is that it's going to increase harm it'll create further access by gangs and so on and so forth. The more nuanced research presents a different case and it is that in some jurisdictions that have indeed engaged with these deeply morally challenging issues but have been brave enough to go into an area and legalise decriminalise or make accessible cannabis for medicinal use there has been a decrease in harm and there has been a decrease in criminal justice statistics. I particularly want to just make a comment because this has been a point of some debate amongst Māori communities in particular. There is not universal agreement on this issue and indeed in fact it's one that we grapple with intimately around kitchen tables. Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.KIRITAPU ALLAN: This bill that we've been asked to consider tonight extends the parameters for medicinal cannabis use from those with a terminal illness to those that are suffering in chronic pain. There are real fears as I illuminated prior to the break that a Pandora's box may somehow erupt and open and that we might not be able to contain the harm of drugs. But from a pragmatic perspective my community up there on the East Coast—my communities Māori communities small communities right now are suffering at the hands of so many different types of harm. Right now 40 percent of young Māori incarcerated in prison are there because of drug-related offences. I had to confront my fears when I engaged with the subject matter of this bill because the community have asked us to engage with these matters and engage with them thoroughly. So I implore members of this House when we are casting our conscience vote tonight to trust in the parliamentary process and to send this bill to select committee so that we can indeed hear from our communities."