Under New Zealand law, medical cannabis is supposed to be available to those who need it.
But overly stringent regulations and high prices have failed to make this a reality, says Victoria University criminology professor Dr Fiona Hutton.
Photo: Kimzy Nanney
In the current system, there is too much red tape around who can legally produce cannabis products and too many barriers to obtaining them legally, she tells Jesse Mulligan.
Listen to the interview
Fiona Hutton, Associate Professor in Criminology at Victoria University Photo: The Spinoff
- Read: Medical cannabis is still out of reach for too many sick New Zealanders by Dr Fiona Hutton (The Spinoff)
In 2018, medicinal cannabis was made legal for New Zealanders with terminal conditions, and since 2020, when the Medicinal Cannabis Scheme was introduced, it can now be prescribed by a GP.
But the cost of a prescription – up to $340 a month – is out of reach for a lot of people, Dr Hutton says.
The present system, in which generally only high-income Pakeha people can access medicinal cannabis, is at risk of perpetuating health inequality, she says.
Add to that many patients are reluctant to initiate a conversation with their GP about cannabis for fear of being judged or stigmatised.
Although some New Zealand doctors are supportive of medicinal cannabis, many are "a bit wary", she says.
"They don't want to cause harm to their patients but you could ask the question are they causing harm by not considering cannabis for some of their patients?"
The majority of people New Zealanders who cant access medicinal cannabis legitimately acquire it from private growers often referred to as 'green fairies'.
Some of these people have a lot of knowledge and expertise with the use of cannabis as medicine and it's a shame that they sit outside the Medicinal Cannabis Scheme, Dr Hutton says.
A good step would be to decriminalise the work of green fairies who supply cannabis products and make these legal to purchase, Dr Hutton says.
Small cannabis growers and producers in New Zealand are often excluded from legal manufacture because our Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) benchmark for medicines is very high, Dr Hutton says.
"You could say that's good cause it means high quality but it is no good having a product that's manufactured to such stringent standards that it's too expensive for people to access."
Ironically, many of our medical cannabis producers export their products overseas to places like Germany which has more flexible regulations, she says.
One way to create better access to medicinal cannabis could be to classify it as an alternative therapy so patients could grow their own, argue New Zealand academics Chris Wilkins and Marta Rycherts.
Making CBD products (those containing the non-psychoactive element of cannabis) available without the need for a prescription – as happens in the US and some parts of the EU – would be a helpful move, too, Dr Hutton says.
"There are ways we could bring a wider range of products into the [medicinal cannabis] arena, which would help level the playing field, I think, in terms of equity.