Wagner NickyHon NICKY WAGNER (National): It's my pleasure to stand and talk to this Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill at its third reading but I am so very very disappointed with this bill and I know that many others are as well because in a nutshell Labour campaigned on establishing a medicinal cannabis regime. I'd like to quote: We support legalising cannabis products for medicinal use and we are very clear about that and will be pleased to do that in our first hundred days." So we expected that they would have done the work. We expected that after nine years they would have done the work to make sure they could introduce a medicinal cannabis scheme but this bill doesn't even attempt it; it doesn't come close. However and fortunately National under Dr Shane Reti has done the work and his medicinal cannabis bill is ready and available to go.Let me explain: all this bill that we're debating today provides is a temporary statutory defence against prosecution if a patient uses and possesses cannabis—a patient who is very very ill and close to dying. That's not what the campaign brochure said. That's not the well-thought-out safe and respected medicinal cannabis scheme that we were expecting. I too add to the other members who've spoken in this House to thank the submitters who came to the Health Committee. We really appreciated their candid knowledge and experience and the way that they shared with us. Most submitters—and there were nearly 2000 of them—and actually I think most New Zealanders want something more from this legislation. They are keen to see affordable medicinal cannabis products supplied to those who are ill who are in pain and who have medical conditions that will benefit from the substance. To do that safely and well it means we need to access a supply of pharmaceutical-quality drugs and in consistent quantity-controlled doses. They want these drugs to be cost-effective and available under medical supervision and from a legal source. This bill will do none of that.The Government says that this bill is about compassion; I'm not so sure. It doesn't guarantee supply. Very ill people will have to source their drugs from illegal sources. How compassionate is that? There's no quality control. The illegal substances could be almost anything including loose-leaf cannabis which is uncontrollable and actually not great for your lungs. How compassionate is that? I'd like to repeat what Dr Shane Reti says: loose leaf is not a medicine—loose leaf is not a medicine. Forget about the product the smoking's going to do you harm anyway. Affordable cannabis drugs will not be available by prescription and if the patient is too ill to negotiate with drug dealers themselves and needs a friend or a family member—and we've just heard a story from the member Chlöe Swarbrick about that—to source cannabis for them that person can be prosecuted. How compassionate is that? This bill is a farce actually.Now the National Party believes that creating a medicinal cannabis scheme requires careful thought detailed technical advice and because it is a significant social change in our community oversight through the parliamentary process. We are keen to see a medicinal cannabis scheme in action and we were really happy to work with the select committee to make that happen. When we rolled up our sleeves to get on with the job we even found a way through the select committee process to let work begin on designing the scheme but Labour refused—absolutely refused—to discuss any details. They prefer to delegate and we would say abdicate their responsibilities to officials. Actually we don't really know why. We can't see any downside to Parliament having the final oversight on our medicinal cannabis scheme. It's a complex piece of work. There are opportunities but there are also threats and we need to manage that well.There are several parts of any prospective legislation. We need standards around the products themselves—not in this bill. We need regulation about how those products can be grown processed and manufactured safely and securely—not here. We need decisions about who can prescribe and who can dispense the final product—not here. The Government hasn't done any—not any—of this work and it's expecting to take another 12 months for the officials to write something and that's what's so disappointing: it's an opportunity lost.Fortunately as I said National's own Dr Shane Reti has been studying medicinal cannabis for some time. He's travelled extensively he's looked at overseas regimes and he's produced a thoughtful sensible and most of all comprehensive medical cannabis bill. We've offered to assist the Government and it could be debated right now. Submitters that we heard from particularly patients and potential patients were very keen to see this medicinal cannabis regime set up as quickly as possible. There are opportunities for the medicinal cannabis industry to be developed in New Zealand and there's some urgency to get that under way. And Dr Reti's bill is ready to go.So in summary the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill is too little and it will be too late for so many of our submitters and our potential medicinal cannabis industry. National can't support that. However I do commend to the House Dr Reti's Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill (No 2). It's the solution that New Zealand needs right now and as I said it's ready to go. So come on Minister Clark do the intelligent thing. National has provided a solution that can deliver on your promises so that New Zealanders can get the medicinal cannabis scheme they want. You only need to swallow your pride just a little bit and we could get a win-win for everybody. Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker."