New Zealand’s government has passed a law that will make medical marijuana widely available for thousands of patients over time, after years of campaigning by chronically ill New Zealanders who say the drug is the only thing that eases their pain.
The legislation will also allow terminally ill patients to begin smoking illegal pot immediately without facing the possibility of prosecution.
The health minister, David Clarke, said thousands of New Zealanders were living with chronic and end-of-life pain and the evidence that marijuana could safely help ease their suffering was sound.
The law would also pave the way for New Zealand companies to manufacture medicinal cannabis products for both the local and international market, an industry which is being touted as a potential game-changer for deprived Māori communities on the east coast of the North Island, who hope to turn the thriving illegal industry into a thriving legal one.