Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party
6 October 2008

Its time .. for Sativex !

ALCP applauds Friday's announcement of the tiny move toward allowing patients to be treated legally with cannabis, though it must be said that an unsubsidised Sativex product will be a relatively expensive delivery device for administering THC and cannabinol from the plant, and it could still be delayed for years.

The cannabis plant actually contains over sixty chemicals, which have shown promise for medicinal applications, that are currently being researched by pharmaceutical companies. Even the US Department of Health has held several patents since 2003 (see http://www.patentstorm.us./patents/6630507.html). However the homegrown natural combination of those chemicals has for years benefited sick Kiwis who have been using the plant medicinally.

The timing of allowing this Sativex marketing application to Medsafe is both an acknowledgement politicians have noticed the revitalised cannabis lobby effort and would like to shut it down, as well as that a majority of the New Zealand public understand cannabis prohibition is nothing more than an unjustified oppressive sham of a law.

ALCP spokesperson and candidate for West Coast/Tasman, Steven Wilkinson said "This is the first positive move forward in the cannabis debate for a while and it sure is about time. However, focusing on medicinal use ignores the fact that prohibition of this relatively benign plant cannabis, by the criminalisation of its users, is still ruining lives in our communities."

Legal regulation of the whole plant would recognise the harm of 'heavy' cannabis use by young people and respond to that. Currently prohibition still shamefully relies on public fear and ignorance in order to demonise a truly multi-purpose valuable plant. "Allowing Sativex right now smells like political manoeuvring; an attempt to claw back recent support that groups like NORML and Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party have received."

"Regulating cannabis alongside alcohol and tobacco would still allow medicines to be developed, rather than this current move merely allowing ill people to pay excessive amounts of money in order to be allowed to spray THC into their mouths. It has long been advocated that there are plenty of alternative safe methods for ingesting it than smoking."

ENDS

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