SUBJECT: THE FORBIDDEN PAINKILLER

This morning, in his Lower Hutt home, Richard will heat and inhale a
few drops of cannabis oil.

The thick smoke carries delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), an active
ingredient that helps him relax, reducing muscle tension and therefore pain.

In Levin, Billy McKee will today smoke five joints, each containing
about a gram of the dried plant. His supply at the moment is
"garbage", so he needs larger amounts than usual.

Often he will smoke only five small balls of weed each day in a pipe.
When he gets top-quality cannabis, he'll eat the "beautiful, herby"
plant fresh.

Billy, 52, and head of lobby group GreenCross, is wheelchair-bound
after a drunk-driver crashed into him 30 years ago. He has lost one
leg, the other is continually painful, he has occupational overuse
syndrome in his hands from using walking aides and now he's getting
pressure sores on his hips and bottom. Cannabis soothes his aches,
enabling him to work industriously on his various lobbying and
community projects. "It just lets your mind go somewhere else."

Richard, a former mechanic, was crushed under a car while working in
his driveway in 1991, and this week checked out of hospital after his
third operation related to the accident. He has tried to return to
the workforce repeatedly during the past 16 years, but each time his
back has forced him to retrain and try a new career. He functions
better on cannabis than any prescription painkillers with comparable
pain-relief results.

He smoked cannabis recreationally before the accident, then found
afterward that it provided relief from some of his symptoms. He is no
longer a recreational user. He smokes only within his own home, only
when he requires pain relief. He sometimes has two to three sessions
a day, each session consuming a spot of oil smaller than a pea.

Now, with three convictions for possession and three for cultivation,
he's strongly behind a Green MP's member's bill calling for cannabis
to be legalised for medicinal use. And Health Ministry papers
released to The Dominion Post under the Official Information Act show
officials have advised the health minister that there is enough
evidence to support use of cannabis on compassionate grounds.

Is it possible that Richard and Billy will one day soon be able to
legally grow cannabis and smoke cannabis in their homes without fear
of prosecution?

What is the law now?

Cannabis use in New Zealand is prohibited under the Misuse of Drugs
Act 1975. Cannabis is a class C drug and cannabis preparations are
class B drugs.

However, under the Misuse of Drugs Act and the Medicines Act 1981, a
medical practitioner can - with the health minister's approval -
import and prescribe controlled drug medication, such as cannabis,
for a patient under their care.

A 2002 Health Ministry briefing paper stated that between 1994 and
2002, 12 applications were made by doctors, on behalf of seven
patients, for exemption to prescribe cannabis for medicinal use.
Among these were two applications for unnamed patients, and two
patients who had more than one doctor apply for them. None were successful.

But the Health Ministry told The Dominion Post last week that no
medical practitioners had ever applied for the exemption - only
patients, who had all been turned down.

Health Canada has approved the cannabis nasal spray Sativex for
relief of neuropathic pain in multiple sclerosis sufferers.

Spanish authorities are also believed to be approving the use of
cannabis capsules in specific cases and under medical supervision.
Sativex trials in Britain are ongoing, focused on seeing what benefit
the medicine could have beyond its most common use, for pain relief
in multiple sclerosis sufferers. Preliminary results from
manufacturer GW Pharmaceuticals in January showed what the company
said were "substantial improvements" in pain among those suffering
painful diabetic neuropathy.

Cannabis has been the subject of three previous health select
committee inquiries, in 1995, 1998 and 2003.

What does the new bill propose?

Green MP Metiria Turei has lodged a member's bill proposing an
amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 to decriminalise use of
cannabis for medicinal purposes.

The bill would allow cardholders to consume, smoke and possess a
certain amount of cannabis, quantity not specified. A register of
cardholders and their designated agents would be created.

Applications for a card would require evidence that the person
suffered from a list of conditions, some of which were recognised as
benefiting from medicinal cannabis use, including Aids wasting
syndrome, glaucoma and epilepsy. The bill was awaiting information
and Ms Turei said this week that she had no undertaking from any
party to back the bill. But it's likely a 3000-signature petition
could build the profile of her cause. Norml, a group pushing for
reform of cannabis laws, has handed the petition calling for
legalised medical use to Parliament.

What does the Health Ministry say about that?

Health Ministry documentation released to The Dominion Post this
month under the Official Information Act dated back toMay 2000, and
included briefing papers to former health minister Annette King and
current Health Minister Pete Hodgson. The most recent correspondence
was an October 2006 briefing paper for Mr Hodgson on the bill.

The papers show a level of support within the ministry for medicinal
cannabis use. "The scientific and clinical evidence, while not yet
overwhelming, indicates that the use of cannabis has therapeutic
value in treating serious conditions, including multiple sclerosis,
HIV and cancer-related wasting and chronic pain where other
medications have proved less effective."

The ministry listed three concerns: potential physical and mental
harm from smoking the drug, the difficulties in assuring quality and
control of the dose, and problems of legitimate supply of what is
primarily an illegal drug.

"Despite these concerns about the use of cannabis leaf as a medicine,
the ministry believes that there is now sufficient evidence of safety
and efficacy of cannabis in some medical conditions to support
consideration of compassionate use under tightly controlled circumstances."

Ms Turei says: "It is a health issue to some extent, but for patients
who are likely to die ... really the risk of smoking is completely irrelevant."

Finally, because of the provisions in existing legislation, allowing
the health minister to approve a product as a medicine, or an
individual's request for consent to use medicinal cannabis, the
ministry does not believe the bill is necessary.

What else do the briefing papers say?

On one paper, Ms King added a third handwritten recommendation to a
health report regarding approvals for the supply of cannabis
products. It read: "Please note: I have said no approvals will be
given until the results of the UK trials are known 2002-2003."

Other documentation showed that Labour MP Tim Barnett pressured his
colleagues, writing to Mr Hodgson in March 2006 to request an update
on progress setting up a system to allow access to medical
cannabis-related products.

Mr Barnett asked about the same clinical trials, and Mr Hodgson's
response made the point that, regardless of the trial outcomes, there
had not been any applications to register medicinal cannabis products
in New Zealand. Until such applications were made to Medsafe, the
Health Ministry's drug regulator, they could not be considered.

If Medsafe were convinced, it would recommend that the minister
consent to distribution in New Zealand. So, if leaf cannabis was not
an acceptable form of medicine and Ms Turei's bill failed, it would
then require a company with a relevant product to make the issue less
about the theory and more about the practicalities.

The ministry believes pharmaceutical forms of cannabis are more
appropriate as a treatment than smoking leaf cannabis.

GW Pharmaceuticals in Britain is one of the leading manufacturers and
distributors of medicinal cannabis worldwide. In 2003, it indicated
it would supply its pharmaceutical cannabis product, a nasal spray
called Sativex, for a clinical trial in New Zealand.

A briefing from October last year said: "To date, the Ministry of
Health has not received an application for approval of this or other
pharmaceutical forms of cannabis."

A GW Pharmaceuticals spokesman said he would not have time to respond
to questions from The Dominion Post this week regarding any future
approaches to supply Sativex in New Zealand.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said this week that the Health Ministry's
advice should not be read as a "major endorsement" of medicinal
cannabis use, and that no application had been made to introduce
Sativex to New Zealand.