Sign the Petition supporting Gandalf and other Green Fairies
Click the link to be directed to the NZ Parliament website where you can sign the petition.
Posted inAbout cannabis Drug Testing Law Reform
NZ’s Drug Driving law passes, with only Green and Te Pati Maori MPs opposed
New Zealand's parliament has passed the Land Transport Drug Driving Amendment Act 2024,- which swaps out any pretense of measuring impairment with accurate devices, to just detecting recent use of drugs
Posted inCampaign Drug Testing Law Reform
NORML’s Submission on the Land Transport (Drug Driving) Amendment Bill 2024
NORML's submission on the Land Transport (Drug Driving) Amendment Bill 2024 focusses on how this Bill and the drug driving testing regime relates to cannabis and the one-in-ten adults in New Zealand who are regular consumers, as well as the large majority of adults who have tried it on occasion; the vast majority of whom are responsible, otherwise law-abiding citizens who may be entrapped by poorly targeted roadside checkpoints intended to detect recent use rather than impairment.
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Posted inChris Fowlie's Blog Law Reform Research
Balance the books with $2.8b tax from legal cannabis
Making cannabis legal could balance the budget without needing to cut thousands of jobs and crucial services.
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Posted inChris Fowlie's Blog Drug Testing Research
Testing times for drivers: National’s new drug-driving law won’t detect impaired drivers & could see innocents prosecuted
The Government has confirmed they will “roll out” legislation this year to enable police to randomly test the saliva of drivers using inaccurate swabs that could see thousands of people subjected to roadside blood tests and prosecuted with no evidence of impairment.
Changes coming to NZ’s Medicinal Cannabis Scheme
NORML has obtained a copy of changes to the Medicinal Cannabis Scheme proposed by New Zealand's Ministry of Health. These changes appear to have already had sign-off from the top (the Minister of Health), so they are almost certainly bound to happen, and are expected to be implemented in the second half of this year
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Posted inChris Fowlie's Blog Law Reform Referendum
Pardon Kiwi cannabis convicts? Yes, we can.
While Americans convicted for possessing pot will soon be pardoned, some local politicians have already stubbed out the roach here, citing the 2020 cannabis referendum result. Yet there remains a need to pardon Kiwis for something most of us no longer believe should be a crime, and there are several ways we could do it, writes CHRIS FOWLIE,
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Posted inAbout cannabis Campaign Chris Fowlie's Blog
Should politicians be drug tested?
As long as workers are tested for drugs they may do in their own time, should politicians be tested too?
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Posted inChris Fowlie's Blog Medicinal Use of Cannabis
Ministry of Health reviewing the Medicinal Cannabis Scheme: here’s what works, what went wrong and how we can fix it
Last week, as New Zealand’s Medicinal Cannabis Scheme was labelled “unworkable” and the Ministry of Health finally confirmed a review of the scheme was imminent, I did two things that illustrated what is working and what isn’t...
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Posted inCampaign Chris Fowlie's Blog Medicinal Use of Cannabis
Cannabis year in review: the referendum’s long shadow
For the second year of the zombie apocalypse, covid cast a long shadow over everything, the referendum left us in a hazy brain fog and the government wished cannabis would just go away – while the rest of the world moved on without us. Yet there is still hope.
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Posted inCampaign Chris Fowlie's Blog Drug Testing
Nonsense brewing over drug driving bill
A bill aiming to curb impaired driving has been derailed and will now criminalise thousands of non-impaired drivers, especially cannabis users.
NORML’s advice to BPAC for medicinal cannabis information provided to health professionals
The Ministry of Health and BPAC (Best Practise Advisory Group) have together released a draft guide for doctors and other prescribers about medicinal cannabis, and invited feedback on the draft. This is NORML's advice.
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Posted inChris Fowlie's Blog Law Reform Medicinal Use of Cannabis
Does medical cannabis need a supermarket-style intervention?
The Government’s medical cannabis scheme is now in full effect, but strict rules have taken away products that are used by thousands of patients, letting billionaires corner the market and no obvious path for smaller growers. The solution may lie in applying the Commerce Commission’s thinking for supermarkets to the medicinal cannabis sector, with five small changes that could make a big difference.
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Posted inCampaign Chris Fowlie's Blog Medicinal Use of Cannabis
Police persecute medicinal cannabis suppliers – this isn’t the kindness or reform we were promised!
Police have been under fire for raiding and prosecuting people using and producing medicinal cannabis products – but the blame lies squarely with politicians writing bad laws.
Posted inDrug Testing Press releases Research
NORML’s Submission on the Land Transport (Drug Driving) Bill
NORML supports the intention to make driving safer and to remove impaired drivers from our roads. But we remain concerned about the reliability, intrusiveness, accuracy, and scope of oral swabs.
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Posted inChris Fowlie's Blog Events Medicinal Use of Cannabis
It’s 420 Day! How to celebrate cannabis safety under lockdown
This year, the entire month of April is “4/20” month too – and expectations were high, so to speak, that a month of 420’s leading into J Day would provide a foundation for activism leading into the cannabis referendum. Instead, the global coronavirus lockdown has left cannabis consumers, including Kiwi patients, without their usual access and exposed to misinformation.
Posted inPress releases Research
Survey: Has the COVID-19 Outbreak Influenced Your Cannabis Consumption?
A team of researchers is collecting epidemiological data to better evaluate how cannabis consumers, and patients in particular, are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Take part now!
Posted inMedicinal Use of Cannabis Press releases
NZ’s medicinal cannabis scheme takes effect 1 April 2020 – here’s what it means for you
New Zealand's new medicinal cannabis scheme has gone live, with regulations taking effect on 1 April 2020. Any doctor can now prescribe cannabis products to any patient, and local production is allowed - but no new cannabis products are available, and producers cannot yet apply for licences. This has left many patients wondering what the scheme really means for them.
Posted inAbout cannabis For Media & Students
Coronavirus tips for cannabis consumers: stop passing joints, and beware of online misinformation
New Zealand's oldest cannabis law reform group has issued coronavirus tips for cannabis consumers: stop passing joints, and beware of online misinformation.
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Posted inCampaign Chris Fowlie's Blog Medicinal Use of Cannabis
Medicinal cannabis wins and polls point to cannabis referendum’s recipe for success
Improvements to New Zealand’s new medicinal cannabis scheme – together with recent polling – suggest how we can win the cannabis referendum, writes Chris Fowlie. Originally published on The Daily Blog There has been much criticism of the medicinal cannabis scheme, and some of it justified. Patients can’t grow their own. So far, products have been more expensive than they could be. The dealings of middle class businessmen has…