7. Drugs Illegal—CannabisJULIE ANNE GENTER (Green) to the Associate Minister of HealthDrugs Illegal—CannabisJULIE ANNE GENTER (Green): I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I seek your guidance on this issue. My question was lodged to the Minister of Health. It has been transferred to the Associate Minister of Health but the Associate Minister of Health has informed me that his comments that are referenced in my question were not made in his ministerial capacity. So I seek your guidance on how a Minister can transfer a question to an Associate Minister who apparently does not have ministerial responsibility for the comments in the original question.Mr SPEAKER: Can the member repeat—is she saying that she has had a conversation with the Minister who is now saying that he did not make these comments in his ministerial capacity?JULIE ANNE GENTER: The original question was to the Minister of Health—Mr SPEAKER: I know that; maybe I could seek assistance from the Hon Peter Dunne.Hon PETER DUNNE (Associate Minister of Health): The comments that the member referred to were made in a blog but I am certainly happy to answer the question that she has posed if she wishes to proceed with it.Mr SPEAKER: On that basis it has been transferred and as I have pointed out on many occasions the Government actually has a responsibility to transfer it to the Minister who can best answer for the Government's intention. The question stands and it is to the Minister as on the paper. Otherwise we are happy to move on.7. JULIE ANNE GENTER (Green) to the Associate Minister of Health: Does he stand by his reported statements that the current drug law does not really work that well and that cannabis should be regulated under the Psychoactive Substances Act; if not why not?Hon PETER DUNNE (Associate Minister of Health): In short yes. The Misuse of Drugs Act was passed in 1975 and as I noted a couple of years ago in the foreword to the Government's National Drug Policy: We also have to be prepared to challenge traditional approaches and ways of thinking about these issues. Innovation is essential in a world where new drugs are detected every week and the black market has gone digital." I would point out to the member that one of the actions being taken this year as part of the National Drug Policy is a review of the offence and penalty provisions for personal possession as set out in the Misuse of Drugs Act. With regard to the psychoactive substances aspect of the question that is a re-statement of a United Future position from as long ago as 2013. I accept it may not necessarily be the Government's position.Julie Anne Genter: Can he confirm that regulating cannabis under the Psychoactive Substances Act would be in line with the recommendations from the Law Commission on drug law reform?Hon PETER DUNNE: From memory the Law Commission's recommendations were made prior to the passage of the Psychoactive Substances Act but in general my understanding of its recommendations would see those align with the proposal I have advanced of regulating such substances under that Act.Julie Anne Genter: Can he confirm that the evidence from overseas and in New Zealand suggests that regulating and treating drug use as a health issue is a far more effective way of minimising the harms associated with it than treating it as a criminal issue?Hon PETER DUNNE: Yes I can confirm that. Indeed that has been the statement that the New Zealand Government has made to the United Nations every year for about the last decade. It is certainly consistent with the National Drug Policy and it is the position that a majority of States around the world adopt these days.Julie Anne Genter: Does the Associate Minister of Health believe that we have not been able to make progress on implementing the recommendations of the Law Commission—regulating cannabis as a health issue rather than treating it as a criminal issue—because the National Party is unwilling—Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is no responsibility at all from the Minister for the National Party. That question is not in order.Julie Anne Genter: I seek leave to table this chart from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the University of California San Francisco which shows that cannabis is far less harmful and has less addiction potential than a number of legal substances—Mr SPEAKER: Leave—[Interruption] Order! It has been well described; I will put the leave. Leave is sought to table that particular chart. Is there any objection to it being tabled? There is objection."